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Last updated on Tuesday, May 12, 2015
(BLOOMINGTON) - Police say the wife of of Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Edward “Ted” Najam of Bloomington carried out a scheme in which she made threatening cellphone calls to the judge and carved a threatening message into the door of their home to make others believe her son-in-law was doing the crimes.
Police cited 53-year-old Beverly "Star" Cochran into court on charges of obstruction of justice and false reporting.
According to police, she was acting in retribution, telling police she and Judge Najam believed their son-in-law was to blame for their daughter's heroin addiction.
She told police she believed her husband might harm their son-in-law so she was attempting to get the man arrested on harassment charges.
Investigators say Cochran admitted to purchasing a disposable cellphone from Walmart to send threatening messages to her husband from the parking lot at the U.S. Post Office on Pete Ellis Drive and then she threw away the phone in an apartment complex trash dumpster in the area.
She was hoping she could persuade her daughter to leave her husband if she showed her the text messages.
According to the probable cause affidavit - "Mrs. Cochran wrote and sent the text messages because she had discussions with Mr. Najam that led her to believe that Mr. Najam intended to shoot (the son-in-law) and then turn himself in to law enforcement.".
She also alleged carved the words "die judge" on the door of their Spicewood home, blaming it on her son-in-law.
When police spoke to Judge Najam about the evidence against his wife, he told police he had no idea she was behind the threats.
He did admit about talking to her about protecting his family "by any means necessary" but only in self defense. He claims he never threatened to shoot his son-in-law.
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