A South Carolina man who posted a public threat to assassinate Rep. Nancy Mace with a gun walked out of court this week with no prison time, a sentence that underscores growing concerns about how seriously the justice system treats violent threats against elected officials.
Samuel Theodore Cain, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman under the name "Roxie Wolfe," pleaded guilty to threatening to kill the Republican congresswoman and was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison, but the judge suspended the entire sentence. Instead, Cain will serve 30 months of house arrest followed by five years of probation, the Daily Caller reported.
The conditions include GPS monitoring, psychiatric evaluations, a curfew, weekly drug testing, no access to social media, and a restraining order protecting Mace. But the bottom line remains: Cain threatened to murder a sitting member of Congress and will not spend a single day in prison for it.
On April 26, 2025, Cain posted the following message on X:
"I'M GOING TO ASSASSINATE REPRESENTATIVE NANCY MACE WITH A GUN AND I'M BEING 100% DEAD A**"
Law enforcement acted quickly. Capitol Police and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED, moved on the threat, and Cain was arrested in May 2025. Mace's office described Cain as the first trans activist to be charged with threatening her life, despite several other threats she had received.
But the arrest did not end the danger. While in custody, Cain attempted to bond out three times. A judge denied every request. During a discussion about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Cain made additional statements indicating he would remain a threat to Mace if released, Live 5 News reported.
Mace posted about the third bond denial on X on December 22, 2025:
"Judge denies bond for the THIRD TIME to the man who threatened to assassinate me. From jail, he REAFFIRMED he would kill me if given the chance. In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, we can't afford ONE mistake."
Three bond denials. A reaffirmed threat from behind bars. And the final outcome: house arrest.
Mace, who has been one of the most vocal Republicans in Congress on issues related to biological sex and gender policy, did not hold back when Cain was first arrested. In a press release from her office, she drew a direct line between the threat and her stance against what she calls radical gender ideology.
"The trans movement is fueling violence. Capitol Police and SLED moved fast on this death threat, and they should. No one should face murder threats for calling out radical gender ideology."
She added: "We won't back down. We won't stop fighting to protect women and kids."
Mace has had a turbulent political stretch in recent years. She finished fifth in the South Carolina governor's race after losing a key endorsement, and later signaled she would step away from Congress. Yet the threats against her have continued regardless of her shifting political fortunes.
In a separate statement attributed to Live 5 News, Mace spoke more broadly about the climate facing public officials:
"The fabric of our country is being torn from within. We are consumed by violent threats against the people who serve it, but nothing will stop me from fighting for South Carolina."
The contrast within Mace's own case file is striking. On the same Tuesday that Cain walked away with house arrest, another individual who threatened the congresswoman received real prison time.
Shayla Addison was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for sending text messages and emails to Mace's campaign threatening to kill her and blow up her office. Addison had been charged in January. Mace's office issued a separate press release about that sentencing as well.
So two people threatened to kill the same congresswoman. One got more than two years in federal prison. The other, the one who posted an explicit assassination threat on social media and then reaffirmed it from jail, got house arrest. The Daily Caller reached out to Greenville County prosecutors for comment on the disparity, but no response was reported.
Mace, for her part, has not slowed her public advocacy. She refused to back down on a controversial Epstein files vote even when it cost her politically, and her willingness to court confrontation on gender policy has made her a frequent target.
The sentencing comes at a moment of transition in South Carolina Republican politics. The sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham opened a Senate vacancy that has drawn multiple candidates, including Rep. Ralph Norman. Mace herself had previously said she would leave Congress for the private sector after her governor's race showing, but the shifting landscape has kept her name in political conversations.
None of that changes the central question raised by Tuesday's sentencing. A man posted an explicit, public threat to assassinate a sitting member of Congress. He was arrested. He was denied bond three times. He reaffirmed his intent from behind bars. He pleaded guilty. And the system gave him house arrest.
The conditions attached to Cain's sentence, the GPS ankle monitor, the psychiatric evaluations, the drug testing, the social media ban, the restraining order, suggest the court recognized the threat was serious. The suspended prison term suggests the court was not willing to treat it that way.
When someone threatens to murder a public official, means it, says it again from a jail cell, and still avoids prison, the system is not sending a message of deterrence. It is sending an invitation.
