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The long-running cases seemed like old friends. The black robe made her feel more herself. The routine docket lasted just 15 minutes, but for Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow of Federal District Court, returning to the bench on Tuesday was a tiny triumph in recovering from the Feb. 28 murder of her husband and mother. "It felt good to be back," Judge Lefkow said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "I've always enjoyed my work. I guess it was just sort of a sense of normalizing myself a little more, which is good."... A simple notice outside Courtroom No. 2541, where the...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Under criticism over inadequate security for federal judges, the director of the U.S. Marshals Service announced his resignation Friday. Benigno Reyna has led the Marshals Service, which is responsible for protecting judges and rounding up fugitives, since October 2001. His resignation is effective July 31, Marshals Service spokesman Don Hines said. Hines said Reyna, previously police chief in Brownsville, Texas, decided it was time to go back home. But federal judges have been unusually vocal in criticizing the Marshals Service following the Feb. 28 fatal shootings of the husband and mother of U.S. District Judge Joan...

Personal trauma can cloud one’s judgment, so we can to some degree forgive U.S. District Court Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow for urging members of Congress to do something to curb public criticism of federal judges. Lefkow’s husband and mother were recently killed by a deranged man who blamed her for a life turned sour. The attacks were not politically motivated. Yet somehow, Lefkow has drawn a link between the killings and recent criticisms of the federal judiciary by Republicans, in a way that unnecessarily inflames the debate. While we wouldn’t expect that members of Congress would rebuke a grieving widow...

Wednesday, for the first time since her mother and husband were shot to death in her Chicago home, U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow spoke out, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking for more resources to protect federal judges and responding to recent attacks on our nation's judges

A federal judge whose husband and mother were slain by a disgruntled litigant urged Congress on Wednesday to help bring an end to "truly dangerous" verbal attacks on judges that might lead to violent action. In addition to asking lawmakers to "publicly and persistently repudiate gratuitous attacks on the judiciary," Lefkow called on Congress to increase funding for the U.S. Marshals Service, which protects judges. She also wants legislation to ban putting personal information about judges and other government officials on the Internet without their permission.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow, whose husband and mother were shot by a man who probably wanted to kill her, too, came out of seclusion Wednesday to say that "harsh rhetoric'' about judges from evangelist Pat Robertson and lawmakers must be renounced. Members of Congress need to "publicly and persistently repudiate gratuitous attacks on the judiciary,'' Lefkow told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "In this age of mass communication, harsh rhetoric is truly dangerous," Lefkow said. "It seems to me that even though we cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between rhetorical attacks on judges in general and violent...

May 18, 2005, 11:06PM Words lead to violence, judge says Woman whose family was slain urges Congress to bring an end to verbal attacks By REBECCA CARROLL Associated Press WASHINGTON - A federal judge whose husband and mother were slain by a disgruntled litigant urged Congress Wednesday to help bring an end to "truly dangerous" verbal attacks on judges that might lead to violent action. Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow said one way lawmakers could protect judges would be to condemn judge-bashing remarks by commentators and colleagues. "Fostering disrespect for judges can only encourage those that are on the edge, or...

The federal judge whose family was murdered asked the Senate on Wednesday to condemn "gratuitous attacks on the judiciary" by commentators such as evangelist Pat Robertson and members of Congress such as Tom DeLay, saying their words could spark more violence. "Fostering disrespect for judges can only encourage those that are on the edge, or on the fringe, to exact revenge on a judge who displeases them," U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Not only was her family murdered, but Lefkow said she faces public harassment, reports CBS' Mike Parker. "As recently as last Friday,...

Has anyone noticed this story has totally disappeared, since the media couldn't blame a crazy right-wing Nazi for killing these people? And it's pretty obvious the guy who did commit the murders was probably a angry liberal. Where's all the coverage? Where's all the news stories about this guy's past?

CHICAGO -- The body of the man tied to federal judge Joan Humprhey Lefkow's family murders remained unclaimed on Wednesday. Bart Ross confessed in a suicide note to the killings of Lefkow's mother and husband. He shot himself to death outside of Milwaukee last week. Investigators are searching through records looking for relatives to claim Ross' body. If his body remains unclaimed, Milwaukee County will provide money for burial. In the meantime, officials said they've recovered a global position mapping system from Ross' van. Programmed into the device were directions to the Lefkow home, as well as a doctor and...

Egad. Could we actually owe Matthew Hale, the prominent white supremacist windbag, an apology? No way. I admit the thought crossed my mind for a nanosecond upon hearing a disgruntled and deranged Chicago man with no apparent ties to Hale was the likely killer of a federal judge's husband and mother. Until convincing evidence linked Bart Allan Ross to the killings, my suspicions locked like a laser beam onto Hale and the other haters in his carnival of bigotry formerly named World Church of the Creator, based in East Peoria, Ill.

CHICAGO - Rambling and threatening letters from the man believed to be the killer of Judge Joan Lefkow's husband and mother prompted the Illinois Attorney General's office to investigate him six years ago, former state officials say. Investigators went to the Chicago home of Bart Ross in the winter of 1999 and created an extensive file on him, noting his paranoia and anger at the government and judiciary, said a former investigator and the office's one-time chief of investigations. Ross, 57, an unemployed electrician, committed suicide Wednesday in a Milwaukee suburb after a police officer pulled him over because of...

CHICAGO (AP) - A DNA match from a cigarette butt convinced police that a Chicago electrician was the killer of a federal judge's husband and mother, authorities said. The cigarette butt found in Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow's house was matched to the electrician, Bart Ross, who killed himself during a traffic stop in Wisconsin this week, and the evidence points to him as the lone killer, police spokesman David Bayless said. Ross, whose rambling lawsuit over his cancer treatment was dismissed by Lefkow, had claimed responsibility for the killings in a suicide note found in his minivan. "The DNA match,...

Source: Man Claims Responsibility for Slayings of Judge's FamilyBy Don Babwin Associated Press Writer Published: Mar 10, 2005 CHICAGO (AP) - A man who shot himself to death during a traffic stop in Wisconsin claimed in a suicide note that he killed a federal judge's husband and mother, a source close to the investigation told The Associated Press Thursday. Chicago Police Department spokesman David Bayless identified the man as Bart Ross. WMAQ-TV in Chicago also reported Thursday that it had received a handwritten letter signed by Ross in which he describes breaking into the house of Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow...

By ABC7Chicago.com March 1, 2005 — Chicago police are investigating a double murder in the home of a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow discovered the bodies of her husband and mother -- Michael F. Lefkow, 64, and Donna Humphrey, 89 -- Monday night in her North Side home. The victims were shot to death. Judge Lefkow and her children are now under the protection of U.S. marshals as a task force scours the home for evidence. Judge Lefkow received death threats after her ruling against self-proclaimed white supremacist Matt Hale. Matt Hale was convicted of soliciting the...

Per foxnews alert! A policeman stopped a man during a traffic stop. Bob Ross shot himself in the head last night during a traffic stop. He is apparently one of two of the killers. He had a grudge against the legal system.

You could almost hear the disappointment in the voice of Katie and her fellow Today Show types. It looks like the husband and mother of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow were not murdered as the result of a plot by Mathew Hale, the leader of the racist, anti-semitic, "World Church of the Creator." Instead, it appears the murderer was a crackpot, whose loony $1 billion lawsuit against civil authorities had been thrown out of court by Lefkow. The apparent murderer shot and killed himself when detained in a routine traffice stop yesterday, leaving behind a bizarre suicide note accusing the...

Investigators early Thursday said a man who shot himself in the head during a traffic stop in Wisconsin had a suicide note claiming responsibility for the slaying of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow's husband and mother last week. Members of the task force of Chicago police and federal agents said the man's van was stopped in West Allis, near Milwaukee, about 6 p.m. Wednesday. As officers approached the vehicle, the man killed himself with a gunshot to the head. Investigators said the man had a suicide note that included an admission that he shot the judge's family. The note included...

She was doing a segment on the Lefkow murders and had one of Matt Hale's 'friends' on. The guest went on and on about how the Jewish Defense League should be investigated and the sketches of the suspects 'look Jewish' and suggested that Ben Smith's murderous 1999 shooting spree was legitamate retaliation against 'Jewish vanadlism' against 'White Civil Rights' Groups Greta just sat their smiling and nodding at this unsubstantiated garbage and blurted out 'well you and I don't see eye to eye...' Why would she be a medium for this sort of thing? What complete garbage. Fox really needs...

Goudie wants to know why Federal judges aren't getting home security with a ''panic button'' to summon police and U.S. Marshalls to their homes.