Orange County jury convicts Atlantic City woman for threatening Middletown judge

An Atlantic City woman was convicted in Orange County after leaving a threatening message on the City of Middletown Court answering machine aimed at the judge who had previously sent her to jail after a jury trial. Prosecutors said the voicemail was not a moment of protected anger or a passing insult, but a criminal threat that struck at the safety of a judicial officer and the integrity of the court.

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced the verdict after the Friday, May 1, 2026, jury trial in City of Middletown Court. Yon Renee Woodson-Renner, 65, was found guilty of Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree. Hoovler said the message served no legitimate purpose and that it was reasonable for the judge to be fearful of Woodson-Renner.

The case was transferred out of the Middletown bench because both city judges recused themselves. Newburgh Town Justice Richard Clarino heard the matter, a step that underscored how seriously the court treated a threat directed at one of its own. The prosecution was handled in Orange County, even though Woodson-Renner lives in Atlantic City, because the threat was aimed at a judge in Middletown, inside Orange County, and the conduct was investigated and charged there.

Hoovler thanked the City of Middletown Police Department for its role in the arrest and conviction. The district attorney’s office said the verdict followed a jury trial and reflected the line courts draw between anger over a sentence and unlawful intimidation. Woodson-Renner had reportedly been reacting to a jail sentence imposed after an earlier jury trial, but jurors found that her response crossed from grievance into a punishable threat.

Woodson-Renner now faces up to 364 days in the Orange County Jail. Sentencing is scheduled for July 2026.

The case carries a broader warning for Orange County courts, where judges and staff depend on the ability to do their jobs without being intimidated by threats made in person, by phone or, as in this case, by voicemail. Prosecutors said the verdict showed that a threat against a judge is not just a personal attack, but an attack on the rule of law itself.