A Mercer Island attorney is being held on $1.5 million bail for threatening to kill veteran Seattle Municipal Court Judge Kimi Kondo, according to new court filings. Attorney John C. Siegel, 40, is also accused of witness tampering and other charges springing from a domestic-violence case in which he allegedly slugged his ex-wife and said he didn’t fear Seattle’s city attorney, vowing to “eat him for breakfast.”

According to King County prosecutors, Siegel made a threat to kill Kondo, the state’s first female Asian-American judge, after a court hearing last month. The threat came during a meeting with a bail bondsman, who ended up scuffling with Siegel and then holding him for police.

Seattle Police Det. Rande Christiansen says the threats case swirls around a domestic-violence dispute between Siegel and his ex-wife Natasha Natalevna. Siegel broke her jaw in 2008, Christiansen says, and has continued to harass her. She obtained a protection order to keep him at bay last year, but he has repeatedly violated it, police say.

The violations include sending text messages to Natalevna’s phone, Christiansen says in a court affidavit. Among the terse texts were “Fuck you whore” and “You will never get another penny.” Natalevna informed Siegel she’d been in contact with Seattle City Attorney Peter Holmes’ office, which sparked more texting from the attorney, police say, including “Peter is no match for me” and “I will eat him for breakfast and shit his bones.”

On March 10, Siegel came before Judge Kondo on the harassment charge, according to an affidavit by another SPD detective, J.D. Mudd. Kondo, one of the court’s senior judges whose tenure dates to 1990, set a hearing date, but Siegel told her he wouldn’t appear. Kondo then raised his bail. Siegel attempted to leave the courtroom without posting bail, but was taken into custody and had his bail raised again, this time to $75,000.

A bondsman paid the bail and then walked with Siegel to the nearby offices of All City Bail Bonds to complete the paperwork. The bondsman, according to court records, asked Siegel why the judge raised his bail, but he refused to answer, instead allegedly saying “I’m going to kill her tonight.” He refused to sign any paperwork and began to leave.

The bondsman and another employee took the threat seriously, and detained Siegel until police arrived. He was then jailed, his bond on the domestic-violence charge revoked, and a new bail amount—$1.5 million—set in superior court. He’s now charged with felony harassment of the judge, along with felony stalking and witness-tampering charges related to the original case.

Siegel, who according to his online listing litigates insurance and real-estate cases, was arrested and booked last week. A state bar member for 11 years, he couldn’t be reached at the jail, and no one answered his home phone. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say Siegel also violated his parenting plan with Natalevna when he took their child from a babysitter’s home without permission. He is also the respondent in an anti-harassment case involving an employee of an apartment-management company, prosecutors say. The employee alleges Siegel has demanded sex from her, and claims the attorney has a “hit list” that includes her name.