A Milwaukee County judge restricted a jailed man’s communication privileges two weeks after the judge previously refused to do so, despite him allegedly threatening a victim and a police officer’s life in messages.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Ana Berrios-Schroeder made the move to remove Amier Hassan Jones, Jr.’s means of communicating from jail, like phones or tablets, at a May 26 hearing. Jones, 29, is charged with five criminal cases in Milwaukee, including felony stalking of a former partner, the target of the bulk of the messages under scrutiny by prosecutors.
Berrios-Schroeder’s reversal came due to Jones being charged in two new cases, she said. One was for the alleged threats against the Milwaukee police officer investigating the claims against him and another where Jones was charged with felony murder for a botched armed robbery.
Assistant District Attorney Jessica Behling made the request to restrict Jones access in both instances this month.
Authorities identified one additional call to the victim that came despite jail staff restricting Jones’ communication independently from the judge, Behling said at the May 26 hearing. That call came from another inmate and its possible ties to Jones is under investigation, she said.
Milwaukee County jail previously restricted Jones’ communication after it learned of the alleged repeated messages to the victim and the threat to the police officer, a Milwaukee County Jail spokesperson previously told the Journal Sentinel.
Jones defense attorney, Sylvan Jaspen, argued the jail’s communication restrictions made Behling’s request a moot point. She also said the new call to the victim was yet to be officially tied to Jones.
“I don’t think there has been a significant change in circumstances from our last hearing,” Jaspen said.
Berrios-Schroeder’s came under scrutiny earlier in May for declining to restrict Jones’ communication. The Fraternal Order of Police Cream City Lodge 3, a local police advocacy group, issued a news release criticizing the judge.
That request came after Behling said Jones attempted to communicate with the victim over 600 times and threatened a police officer’s life. One alleged message cited in the court record read: “If this the detective from preliminary reading this & on the case … u already on my hit listen [sic].”
Since that initial ask on May 6, Behling said investigators discovered more calls, bringing the total to 1,535 calls to the victim between Jan. 15 and May 7. Those were made both on his own inmate calling account and the accounts of inmates housed in the same jail unit as him.
Jones was ordered to have no contact with the victim in the initial case, where prosecutors say he stalked and threatened to kill a former partner and her family between July 2025 and January.
Prosecutors also charged Jones with felony murder on May 20. In that case, they say he organized an attempted robbery of his ex’s new partner for drugs in January. That went awry and his accomplice was shot and killed, prosecutors say.
At the May 26 hearing, Jones appeared virtually and protested Berrios-Schroeder’s decision, before being muted by the judge’s staff.
David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Judge restricts communication of man accused of threatening victim, officer
Reporting by David Clarey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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