Blogger accused of threatening 7th Circuit judges is free on bail

10-24-2009 National:

NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey blogger accused of threatening lawmakers and judges in two states is free on $500,000 bond.

Hal Turner lit a cigar as he walked out of the federal courthouse in Newark on Oct. 21. The 47-year-old waved away a reporter and photographer because he’s under strict orders not to talk to the news media.

A federal judge also ordered Turner not to use a computer or any device that can access the Internet.

Turner was arrested at his North Bergen home in June after authorities said he posted threats against Connecticut legislators and wrote that three federal judges in Illinois deserved to die.

Turner’s release came after U.S. District Judge Donald Walter ruled last month that Turner could be freed under “strict conditions,” which included the news-media and Internet restrictions, The National Journal reported last month. Turner is also subject to home confinement and electronic monitoring.

Walter, a visiting judge from Louisiana who was assigned to the Illinois case, also agreed last month to move Turner’s case from Chicago to Brooklyn, N.Y. Holding Turner’s trial somewhere other than Chicago “would best serve not only justice but the appearance of justice,” Walter said.

Turner was charged in Illinois with making a death threat against three 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges after saying in Internet postings in June that the judges “deserve to be killed” because they had refused to overturn handgun bans in Chicago and suburban Oak Park. Turner also had said on his Web site that the judges’ blood would “water the tree of liberty.”

The postings included the photos and work addresses of the judges, along with a picture of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in downtown Chicago and notations indicating the placement of “anti-truck bomb barriers.”

The postings also referred to the February 2005 slayings of the mother and husband of Chicago-based federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow.

In moving the trial to Brooklyn, Walter noted the “widespread media coverage” of those slayings.

Turner’s attorneys have said he merely gave his opinion, which was protected free speech. ..Source.. by First Amendment Center



Blogger charged with threatening judges free on bail

10-22-2009 New Jersey:

Internet blogger and talk show host Harold "Hal" Turner, jailed as a danger to the community after his June arrest by the FBI, was freed on bail Wednesday pending trial on charges of threatening the lives of federal judges in Chicago.

After 119 days in federal custody, Turner, 47, of North Bergen, walked out of the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building and U.S. Court House in Newark shortly after 1 p.m., under strict orders to refrain from discussing his case with the media and barring him from using a computer or any other device to access the Internet.

Waving a reporter and photographer away, Turner lit up a cigar as left the court complex.

Turner, who gained notoriety for controversial statements that endeared him to white supremacists, was arrested at his home June 24 for declaring in an online posting that three federal appeals court judges "deserve to be killed" for a June 2 ruling that upheld laws banning handguns in Chicago and a nearby suburb.

Turner provided the names, work addresses, phone numbers and photos of the judges in a follow-up post the next day.

During hearings in Chicago in July, Turner's lawyers disclosed — and federal prosecutors confirmed — that Tuner had worked on and off for several years as an informant for the FBI, passing along tips about violent threats against individuals and elected officials, including President Obama.

Prosecutors downplayed his role and a grand jury indicted him July 22 on a single count of threatening "to assault and murder" the three judges in retaliation for their ruling.

In September, U.S. District Judge Donald Walter, who sits in Louisiana, approved Turner's release under strict conditions that include a prohibition on his speaking to the media, home confinement, the Internet ban and electronic monitoring,

Walter also agreed to transfer the case from Chicago, where a federal judge's mother and husband were murdered in 2005, to Brooklyn for a Nov. 30 trial. Turner was later moved to the Hudson County Jail pending the posting of a $500,000 bond.

Newark attorney Michael A. Orozco, who represents Turner, declined to comment on the case.

Orozco has argued that Turner's speech was protected by the First Amendment, but the judge denied his motions to dismiss the indictment earlier this month, noting the right to free speech is not absolute. ..Source.. by PETER J. SAMPSON