It's hard to get worked up over the safety of judges. If they carry out their jobs fairly, I doubt the extent of their danger is as real as you worry about.
The lowly store owner is a sitting target for armed robbers. And, they are getting robbed every day throughout the nation. They don't have security gates at entrances and they rarely have armed guards ready to put down threats. Yet, there are judges who enjoy these protections who would take away the store owners right to defend themselves. They ought to make judges spend a week of community service every year in the shoes of a store clerk.
Store keepers ALSO face danger from dissatisfied customers, but they face even more danger from professional criminals and drugged up thugs who regularly try to rob and kill them. That's why virtually all store owners have some sort of security system, and many have armed guards to protect the employees.
Still, judges preside over cases involving real criminals with long records and bad attitudes. Even when the judge does his or her job fairly and within the confines of the law, many of the criminals who go before them don't see it that way ~ particularly the psycho-sociopaths ~
Why is it I have a feeling you know a lot about that part?
As I recall the guy had many years left on his sentence so there seemed little need to extended it ~ maybe some other sort of discipline might have been more appropriate.
Still, the news story bothered me a lot because there was a prosecutor beating up on a guy who was already locked up, wasting resources that could have been used to go after someone wandering around outside who really did mean to hurt that judge.
Made me wonder what there was about that judge that possessed the prosecutor to waste time and money harrassing prisoners already in jail! Could be the judge's REAL enemy was right there in the courthouse with her.