Man who threatened to kill Maryland GOP Rep. Harris sentenced to eight weekends in jail

A Maryland man has been sentenced to serve eight consecutive weekends in jail and six months of home confinement for threatening to kill GOP Rep. Andy Harris.

A U.S. district judge issued the order Thursday for Sidhartha Kumar Mathur, 35, of West Friendship. Mathur must also perform 100 hours of community service as part of his sentence, according to the Associated Press.  

In December, Harris, who represents Maryland's Eastern Shore, was one of 126 House Republicans who signed a brief supporting a Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn President Biden’s victory. The Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit.

Later that month, Mathur, in a message submitted through the congressman’s website, threatened to kill Harris and blow up his office "if you try to take my vote away," according to prosecutors.

"I know where you and your family lives. You will be ended," he wrote, referring to the congressman as an "animal that needs to be tortured and skinned alive."

About two minutes later, Mathur left a voicemail at Harris’ district office in which he threatened to slit the congressman’s throat and kill his family "if you even mess with my vote," prosecutors also said.

Mathur acknowledged leaving the voicemail message but originally denied making the webmail threat, prosecutors said.

Mathur was charged in December with threatening a federal official. He pleaded guilty in June to making false statements, the wire service also reports.