Man Pleads Not Guilty in Nancy Pelosi Threat Case

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - The man who admitted to threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Monday in federal court. Gregory Lee Giusti, 48, was charged with one count of making threatening and harassing phone calls.

Giusti confessed to making at least 48 calls to Pelosi's homes in Washington, D.C., and the Bay Area, as well as her San Francisco office, leaving voicemail messages that threatened to burn down Pelosi's house if the federal healthcare reform bill passed. "When you go back to California, you won't have a home to go back to," Giusti is accused of saying in one of the messages.

At his detention hearing April 12, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernard Zimmerman denied Giusti bail over concerns that he would "do what he threatened to do," adding, "No conditions of release can assure the safety of the community and the congresswoman."

Giusti is expected back in court April 22.

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