When a San Mateo county inmate allegedly shared his detailed plan to kill San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus in threats made in November and February — using a metal tray or a part of a trash can to repeatedly hit her in the head until she died — Corpus was filled with anxiety, concern and fear, she said.
“This was an object that he would have been able to have access to,” Corpus said.
This was the first threat she had received in the course of her work as a public elected official, she said, but one that prompted her to implement more security at her home to ensure the safety of herself and her two children. She expressed concern that she was not immediately notified of the threat through official channels — saying she had been told by a correctional officer who heard about the threat.
“I felt scared, I felt conflicted, I felt betrayed that people in my own organization didn’t even advise me when I am a mother of two children,” she said. “Regardless of how somebody may feel about me, I’m still a mother to two children who are minors, and to put me and my children – their safety – at risk, was very harmful.”
James David Taylor, 37, was serving time in a San Mateo county jail for felony assault charges when he made the second threat against Corpus to a mental health clinician in February, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
The first threat was made in a grievance form in November, in which Corpus said that Taylor called her names and described in detail how he would kill her. The second threat – the one that was criminally charged – was made to a mental health practitioner, Corpus said. Corpus added that he said he made the threats because of his perception that she had made anti-LGBTQ comments.
“He’s very lucid and very detailed in the way that he describes how he was going to hurt me or kill me,” Corpus said.
In the months since the alleged threats against Corpus, he has allegedly assaulted two corrections officers in separate incidents, prosecutors said.
Taylor is facing assault charges across three separate cases filed in August, prosecutors said. He has been charged with making criminal threats and threatening a public official for his alleged threats against Corpus, and with felony assault against a custodial officer, misdemeanor battery against a custodial officer and misdemeanor sexual battery for the two alleged assaults.
Taylor’s defense attorney Michael Hroziencik did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The cases are gearing up for what is expected to be a seven-day jury trial; the trial assignment is set for Friday afternoon, but Taylor’s right to a speedy trial, which he did not waive, means a trial must begin by Oct. 6, said San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe.
In recent years, threats and violent acts against elected officials and others prominent in politics have increased, with a recent spate of violence making headlines across the country, including assassinations of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk.
Female elected officials are three to four times more likely to receive threats targeting their gender, and officials of color are more than three times as likely than white officeholders to receive threats targeting their race, according to a 2024 research report by the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan policy and law organization.
The mental health clinician reported Taylor’s February comments to a deputy, prosecutors said. Taylor then admitted to the deputy that he made the threats.
“The sheriff is an elected official. Her name is on the building, and … she deserves to have protection against anybody who’s mouthing off threats,” Wagstaffe said. “No matter what else is going on at the sheriff’s office in terms of her position, she’s entitled to be treated when it occurs as a victim, and we’re doing so.”
Corpus has come under county scrutiny over the last year for allegations of corruption and misconduct. Earlier this year, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors initiated removal proceedings against Corpus, and just last week the supervisors implemented oversight for her office’s contract spending.
The two alleged assaults against correctional officers also occurred while Taylor was incarcerated. On Aug. 2, a trainee deputy sheriff was securing Taylor in belly chains in order to transport him to court as he spoke incoherently and angrily, prosecutors said. Taylor then struck the right side of the deputy’s face with an open hand, leaving scratches on the deputy’s forehead.
In a third incident, around 2 p.m. on Aug. 8, a female correctional officer was holding elevator doors open for inmates to enter when Taylor lunged at her then grabbed and held her breasts, prosecutors said. Taylor later told an investigator that he did so for sexual gratification, and that he wanted to be incarcerated for a sex offender crime.
“We ask a lot of our correctional officers,” Wagstaffe said, noting that often only one to two officers will be assigned to a block of about 64 inmates.
“We’re asking them to really expose themselves to some of the tougher inmates that we deal with, and hence, to that extent, it’s important that those inmates and the correctional officers all know that if there is a crime, we will prosecute it,” Wagstaffe added. “We will not simply say, ‘Oh, they can deal with it administratively.’ No, we always file new charges and hopefully to, in some sense, limit the misbehavior of inmates.”
In March, Taylor pleaded no contest to assaulting a correctional officer in exchange for 8 months in jail, according to court records. A separate charge for assaulting a correctional officer was dropped as part of a negotiated plea, according to court records.
At the time of that assault, Taylor was in jail awaiting trial for a felony assault charge, Wagstaffe said. In March, he was given credit for three years time served in jail for that conviction.
Wagstaffe added that his office is requesting that Taylor’s three separate pending cases be heard in one trial for judicial economy – making it so that only one jury has to be chosen instead of three. He expects that the motion to consolidate the cases will be granted by a judge.
Taylor remains in custody on $25,000 bail.