Threats to beat and kill Marjorie Taylor Greene get man prison sentence, feds say

Julia Marnin, Miami Herald on Sep 16, 2025

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A Tennessee man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after prosecutors said he left violent voicemails for Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, in which federal authorities say he threatened to beat the congresswoman in front of her children and later warned he would kill her.

Garry Lebron Hayes, 45, of Chattanooga, was sentenced Sept. 10, in connection with the death threat he left in a July 2024 message to the congresswoman’s office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee said in a Sept. 11 news release.

It was one of four menacing voicemails from Hayes that were detailed in court filings.

In addition to Greene, Hayes also left one threatening message for the office of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

“I will slice your throat…,” Hayes said in a January 2024 voicemail to the senator, according to prosecutors.

Federal defender Everett Hoagland, who represented Hayes, declined McClatchy News’ request for comment Sept. 12 because litigation in Hayes’ case is ongoing, he said.

Hayes previously pleaded guilty to knowingly and willfully transmitting in interstate commerce a communication containing a threat to injure the person of another, according to prosecutors.

When District Judge Curtis Collier handed Hayes the maximum sentence for the charge, Collier said the scene was to “send a signal to all the other Garry Lebron Hayes,” according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

“What you did here is an awful thing,” Collier told Hayes, the newspaper reported.

Hayes was sentenced the same day Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist who co-founded Turning Point USA, was publicly assassinated while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. Authorities have since arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, of Utah, in connection with Kirk’s fatal shooting, The Associated Press reported.

“I’m not often at a loss for words,” Greene said while reacting to Kirk’s death, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He is just loved by so many young kids and young people.”

“He wasn’t robbed at a, you know, in the streets or anything,” Greene added. “He was shot because of what he says.”

The voicemail threats

The first voicemail threat Hayes left for Greene’s office was made March 9, 2022, when he said, according to court documents:

“Hey (Congresswoman). My name is Gary, G-A-R-R-Y, Hayes, H-A-Y-E-S. And I’m a little bit off. I’m a little bit taken back, but I’m from that area you are. And at any time that you feel like you want to do white nationalist (expletive), call my name, call my name.”

“I’ll come see you and your children, and we’ll see how that ends up,” Hayes added, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Hayes left the second voicemail for Greene several months later, on Dec. 9, 2022, when he threatened to beat her “in front of (her) children,” adding “have your husband there too,” according to prosecutors.

In the last voicemail left July 2, 2024, the sentencing memo says Hayes threatened:

“Chattanooga, I’m in Chattanooga. You got, you got to ask your kids to (expletive) finally kiss your (expletive), (expletive). Imma kill your (expletive), Imma kill you, (expletive).”

In court, Hoagland had argued in support of a lesser sentence for Hayes, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. He explained Hayes is a veteran, has experienced mental health issues stemming from his military service, and that he is “embarrassed by his behavior,” according to the newspaper.

Hayes’ prison sentence will be followed by a year of supervised release.

“In imposing a 24-month sentence, the Court stressed that society must be protected from Hayes, and others like him, who threaten to maim, and murder elected officials with whom they disagree,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Prior to Kirk’s death, there have been several violent attacks against political figures, including the killing of Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman in 2025 and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024, McClatchy News reported.