‘Die tonight in a car fire’

A lawyer embroiled in a bitter child custody case in Westchester County is behind bars on charges that he threatened the judge in the case in a series of disturbing text messages.

“I’m going to beat you,” Yonkers attorney Nicholas Leo allegedly texted Acting Supreme Court Justice Susan Capeci in one message, according to a report by lohud.com. “I wish you die tonight in a car fire.

“I warned you month after month after month,” Leo, 57, allegedly said in another text. “If you take my kids from me for no reason, which you did, it’s not gonna go well. I hope you die.”

On Friday, Leo, who is a defendant in the custody case, was arraigned on a felony charge of aggravated harassment of a judge and ordered held without bail pending a return court appearance on Wednesday.

Records show that he is being held without bail at the Westchester County Jail.

In a statement, Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacace chimed in on the case.

“At a time of increasing threats to members of the judiciary, the defendant’s alleged conduct is especially alarming,” she said. “As U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts observed in his 2024 report on the federal judiciary, ‘violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable.’

“We must never allow this type of conduct to become normalized,” Cacace added. “The sanctity of our legal process demands nothing less.”

Leo’s dispute with the judge allegedly stemmed from charges of first- and second-degree criminal contempt he was hit with in November and last month as part of the custody case, lohud.com said.

The troubled lawyer’s wife filed for divorce in September, triggering the matrimonial case.

The threatening messages were allegedly sent to Capeci between May 27 and Wednesday.

Judge John Patrick Collins, who presided over Friday’s arraignment in White Plains City Court, issued an order of protection that mandates that Leo has to stay away from Capeci.