The case against a Lewisberry man accused of threatening a Pennsylvania state lawmaker’s life can move forward to a potential trial.
Clinton Dixon, 66, faces misdemeanor counts of making terroristic threats and harassment as police allege he threatened Democratic Rep. Tarik Khan in a voicemail last month.
At a preliminary hearing on June 3, District Court Judge Joseph Spadaccino agreed that evidence is sufficient to support the charges and that attorneys can argue the allegations before a jury should the case go to trial.
Spadaccino ordered the case to advance into the York County Court of Common Pleas for the next steps in the judicial process.
Dixon was charged May 19 after the Pennsylvania State police investigated the voicemail left the day before for Khan, who represents parts of Northwest Philadelphia and Montgomery County.
Police alleged Dixon was angry over Khan’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights, and that he allegedly asked what his preferred method of execution and allegedly referenced throwing him into a wood chipper, according to charging documents.
The documents cited a line from the message as stating, “Your time … is [expletive] limited on this earth.”
Investigators relied on a law enforcement database to connect the number that called Khan to a business allegedly associated with Dixon, according to charging documents.
Investigators also alleged that Dixon followed Khan on Facebook, and that the voice on the message was consistent with Dixon’s voice from videos he’d posted online, according to charging documents.
Dixon was arrested when he was charged and spent about a week in jail before posting bonds for his $25,000 bail, court documents show.
Following the preliminary hearing, Judge Spadaccino scheduled June 30 for Dixon’s formal arraignment into the county-level court.
Dixon’s case follows a few other recent cases that charged south-central Pennsylvania men with threatening lawmakers.
Troy Rishell, of Wrightsville, was sentenced in May to a year in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to threatening a U.S. Congress member in several voicemails in 2025. Prosecutors did not identify the representative who received the threats.
Adam Berryhill, of Lebanon, was charged in May as investigators alleged he threatened state lawmakers online, which included an alleged “hit list” of 20 Democrats in the Pennsylvania House and Senate.
At the same time, Cody Balmer, of Harrisburg, is serving a 25-50-year state prison sentence after he pleaded guilty in October 2025 to attempted murder, arson and reckless endangerment counts for starting a fire at the Governor’s Residence while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside that April.
