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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Man accused of threatening judge in custody

Patrick Kinnunen is accused of making death threats against Spokane County Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza. (Courtesy of the Spokane Police Department)
By Meghann M. Cuniff meghannc@spokesman.com
Patrick Kinnunen is accused of making death threats against Spokane County Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza. (Courtesy of the Spokane Police Department)
A man accused of making death threats against a Spokane Superior Court Judge turned himself in Wednesday. Patrick R. Kinnunen, 30, is charged with two counts of intimidating a judge after police say he made at least four phone calls to a relative of Judge Sam Cozza on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29 and said he planned to kill the judge. Caller ID showed the calls came from a private number, and Spokane police Detective Paul Lebsock submitted a search warrant to Comcast last week seeking the call history for the phone number that received the threatening calls. The search warrant shows the first call came about 10:55 p.m. Nov. 28, followed by three calls within 20 minutes beginning about 9:30 a.m. the next day. An arrest warrant for Kinnunen was issued Tuesday, and he was booked into the Spokane County Jail about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to jail records. Police say Kinnunen was involved in a custody dispute overseen by Cozza earlier this year.