U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen of the Eastern District of New York on Wednesday signaled that she is likely to deny a Rule 29 motion for acquittal in the case of former Office of Court Administration employee Brendan Hunt, who was found guilty of threatening government officials in April.

“I’m obviously telegraphing this,” Chen told Hunt’s attorneys, Jan Rostal and Leticia Olivera of the Federal Defenders of New York, at the end of the hearing on the motion in Brooklyn. “I think you have an uphill battle.”