Sentencing set for man in retaliation case involving senator

PHOENIX – An Aug. 19 sentencing hearing has been scheduled for a Chicago man who pleaded guilty to a federal retaliation charge in Phoenix for leaving a threatening voicemail for a U.S. senator from Arizona during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings.

James Dean Blevins made the guilty plea in March.

Authorities say Blevins threatened an official identified only as “United States Senator J.F.”

They have declined to provide the victim’s full name, but then-Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona was the only senator with those initials.

Flake had said in late September that his family received death threats after he asked a Senate committee to hear testimony from a woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

Flake ultimately voted for Kavanaugh’s nomination.