Plea deal likely reached for downstate man who threatened DuPage officials

This story was updated Nov. 18 to correct the name of the judge handling the case.

A negotiated plea deal has likely been reached for a downstate man accused of sending death threats to several DuPage County officials, including incoming Chief Judge Daniel Guerin and Lombard police Chief Ray Byrne.

McHenry County Judge Robert A. Wilbrandt, who is substituting in DuPage to avoid a conflict of interest, said Friday that he will consider the felony deal Dec. 15 if James Brasfield continues his mental health treatment and stays on his required medications. The deal, if accepted by both parties, would likely result in two years of probation.

Brasfield, 45, of Morton, faces three counts of threatening a public official, disorderly conduct and harassment through electronic communications. The charges stem from a threatening email prosecutors say he sent to Guerin, Byrne and an investigator from the state's attorney's office in April.

Brasfield is currently free on $300,000 bail and is fitted with a GPS device. He is also restricted from accessing the internet.

According to DuPage court records, Brasfield pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in 2001 regarding a case out of Lombard and was eventually sentenced to concurrent three-year prison sentences. That sentence was affirmed by the Second District Appellate Court in 2006. In 2016 Brasfield began attempting to motion the case back up to question DuPage County's jurisdiction, motions which have been denied by Guerin.