Posted on 08/13/2010 2:23:21 PM PDT by Beaten Valve
NEW YORK — A New Jersey blogger being tried for a third time has been convicted of making threats against federal appeals court judges in Illinois.
A New York City jury deliberated less than two hours Friday before finding Hal Turner guilty of making death threats.
The three judges from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals testified during the trial in Brooklyn that they were alerted by their staffs in 2009 to postings by Turner protesting their ruling supporting gun control.
Turner wrote, "These judges must die." He also posted their photos and work addresses.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
So how was he being tried for a 3rd time?
Two previous mistrials (deadlocked juries).
Informants don't do well in prison.
Turner wrote, “These judges must die.”
How does this differ from what that jerk said about Palin?
To blazes with this idiot. Any guy who advocates rounding up Jews and gunning down judges he disagrees with is no conservative, and no one I’d ever want to be associated with.
Enjoy prison, dirtbag. Don’t forget to drop the soap for your Neo-Nazi buddies.
“Turner wrote, “These judges must die.”
How does this differ from what that jerk said about Palin?”
I wish they’d drop dead
I hope they die
Why don’t they just die?
and of course the “The judge who is anti-whatever living at this address, seen in this picture, must die because ....”
Personally I think the FBI used and then dumped him. I think that there is enough reasonable doubt that he pissed them off at something and they got their revenge. Who will the average Joe trust more, the “law and order FBI” or a neonazi scumbag who also happened to be a rat?
Turner has been a savage, rabid, foamflecked nazist loon all of his professional life and most of his adult life. He certainly didn't need any help from the FBI to go over the edge, he's been treading thin air for at least a decade.
What if he had said, "These judges should be charged with high treason and, if convicted, sentenced to death?" Is that better or worse.
IMHO, wishing someone will die or saying you wish the other person's death is free speech.
Actually, there’s far worse in Turner’s record than wishing death on any number of judges. A torough walkthrough may land him in jail for a substantial number of years, I believe. Don’t have the details in front of me, but you might look for shenanigans in south America. As I said, this is old stuff.
Like I said in the other thread, I do not condone in any way what this jerk said and wrote on his blog BUT I get real uncomfortable when we start locking people up for talking about doing stuff, especially when those in power get caught ACTUALLY breaking the law and get off scot free.
The 1st Amendment gives us the right of Free Speech and part of that right is having to endure what dip shits like Turner say.
Three trials? The judges’ fellow hack lawyers were determined to lynch this guy. Verminous judges let Al Quaeda terrorists and serial rapists walk free every day of the week. But criticize one of their own and they will hound you to death. Freedom of speech now ends at the courthouse.
And I remember Turner's political run. He tried campaigning right here on Free Republic. Jerk.
title should read: NJ Blogger and ex-FReeper....
August 13, 2010
NOTE The following text is a quote:
chicago.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/cg081310.htm
Internet Radio Talk Show Host Hal Turner Convicted of Threatening Three Federal Appeals Court Judges in Chicago Over Decision Upholding Handgun Bans
CHICAGO—Hal Turner, an Internet radio talk show host and blogger, was convicted today in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., of threatening to assault and murder three federal appeals court judges in Chicago in retaliation for their 2009 ruling upholding handgun bans in Chicago and a suburb. Jurors deliberated approximately two hours before returning their guilty verdict in a trial that began on Tuesday. Turner, 47, of North Bergen, N.J., who had been released on bond, was immediately taken into custody pending sentencing, but no date was immediately set.
He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
After federal trial judges in Chicago were recused, U.S. District Judge Donald Walter, of the Western District of Louisiana, was assigned to preside over the case and last year he ordered that it be moved to Brooklyn, where two previous trials—one last December and another in March—ended in mistrials after the juries were deadlocked.
Turner was arrested and charged in June 2009 for writing Internet postings that month that proclaimed “outrage” over a handgun decision by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, stating, among other things: “Let me be the first to say this plainly: These Judges deserve to be killed.” The postings included photographs, phone numbers, work address and room numbers of these judges, along with a photo of the building in which they work and a map of its location.
Turner was charged with threatening to assault and murder three federal judges with intent to retaliate against them for performing official duties. All three judges testified at the trial on Wednesday.
“There is no place in society for threatening federal judges with violence. Period. We are grateful that the jury saw these threats for what they were and rejected any notion that they were acceptable speech,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of New York and the District of New Jersey for their assistance. Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which investigated the threats, thanked the FBI Office in Newark for providing local assistance.
According to the charges, several lawsuits had challenged handgun bans in Chicago and suburban Oak Park after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the Second Amendment entitled handguns at home for self-protection.
On June 2, 2009, the 7th Circuit issued an opinion in National Rifle Association v. Chicago, Nos. 08-4241, 08-4243 & 08-4244, affirming a district court’s decision to dismiss the cases challenging the local handgun bans. The unanimous decision was written by Chief Judge Easterbrook and joined by Judges Posner and Bauer.
On June 8, 2009, law enforcement agents were directed to postings on a website. The front page of the site contained an entry dated June 2, 2009, that was titled: “OUTRAGE: Chicago Gun Ban UPHELD; Court says ‘Heller’ ruling by Supreme Court not applicable to states or municipalities!” After describing the decision, a lengthy entry followed, which is contained in the complaint affidavit. In addition to proclaiming “These judges deserve to be killed,” the entry noted that it was the same 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that decided the case of Matt Hale, a white-supremacist who was imprisoned after being convicted of soliciting the murder of a U.S. District Court judge in Chicago. The entry further noted that the same judge’s mother and husband were murdered by a gunman in her home. The posting then stated:
“Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit court didn’t get the hint after those killings. It appears another lesson is needed.”
The posting was updated the next morning on June 3, 2009, with the following content:
“Judges official public work addresses and a map of the area are below. Their home addresses and maps will follow soon. Behold these devils.”
Below this headline, the entry listed the names, photos, phone numbers, work addresses, and room numbers of the three judges involved in the handgun decision, as well as a photo of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago and a map. The photo of the building had been modified to include arrows and a label referencing “Anti-truck bomb barriers.”
The court will determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines. The government was represented at this trial by Assistant United States Attorneys Diane MacArthur and William Ridgway, and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan provided assistance and participated in the previous trials.
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