White Supremacist arrested for soliciting judge's murder
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   Printer-friendly format Search archivesPhoto  Matt Hale (Tribune file photo ) |
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Associated Press Writer
Published January 8, 2003, 2:35 PM CST
Avowed white supremacist Matt Hale was arrested in Chicago by federal agents today on charges of soliciting the murder of U.S. District Court Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow.
A member of Hale's group in 1999 went on a shooting spree that killed minorities in Illinois and Indiana.
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U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald scheduled a news conference later today at the courthouse to discuss the case.
A two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury charged Hale, the self-appointed head of the World Church of the Creator, with attempting between Nov. 29 and Dec. 17 to get another individual to kill Lefkow.
Lefkow has been presiding over the trademark infringement suit and on Dec. 13 issued an order requiring Hale to show cause why he should not be held in contempt.
The indictment also charged that Hale had "by force endeavored to influence, intimidate and impede" Lefkow from presiding over the lawsuit.
Hale was taken into custody as he passed through the metal detector at the north end of the lobby of the skyscraper courthouse.
Witnesses said that after the arrest a number of Hale's supporters yelled protests in the lobby. Police and agents then flooded the area.
Fitzgerald said in a statement issued by his office that "freedom of speech does not include the freedom to solicit murder."
He said the "conduct alleged in this indictment is disturbing on many levels, but particularly so because it targeted a judge, whose sworn duty is to apply the law equally and fairly to all who appear before her."
In May 2000, an Oregon-based religious organization sued Hale's group, saying it had infringed on a trademark through the use of the name "Church of the Creator."
The indictment said that Hale's World Church of the Creator has held itself out as a religious organization "dedicated to the survival, expansion and advancement of the white race."
In 1999, former church member Benjamin Nathaniel Smith went on a shooting spree that targeted minorities in Illinois and Indiana, killing two people and wounding nine before he killed himself. Killed were former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong and a member of a Korean United Methodist church.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press