Arkansas Man Pleads Guilty to Threatening to Kill Obama

Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, 19-year-old Paul Schlesselman faces 10 years in prison for the crimes, which also included illegal transport of firearms.

In a federal court hearing in Memphis, Mr. Schlesselman said that on Oct. 23, 2008, he threatened to kill Mr. Obama, who won the presidential election the following month. The threat allegedly was made in the presence of investigators, who had arrested Mr. Schlesselman and another man for weapons charges.

Prosecutors filed federal charges the next day against Mr. Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart of Tennessee, who had met each other on the Internet. Mr. Cowart has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mr. Schlesselman said at his plea hearing that on Oct. 20, 2008, he transported an unregistered short-barreled shotgun and a .357 magnum caliber handgun from Arkansas to Tennessee in order to commit racially targeted killings at an African-American school, which would culminate in the assassination of Mr. Obama, prosecutors said.