Litigation

Trial Opens for Blogger Accused of Threatening Judges

By Jennifer Pfanzelt

The trial for New Jersey radio personality and blogger, Hal Turner, (left) opened Wednesday. Turner faces up to 10 years of prison time for posts that prosecutors say threatened the lives of three federal judges based in Illinois.

According to an article in the New York Law Journal, Prosecutor William R. Hogan Jr. stated in the proceedings Wednesday that Turner is “wrong about what he’s allowed to publish, he is wrong about where to draw the line for the First Amendment… He cannot call for [the judges'] execution and murder.”

Turner, who is outspoken about his opposition to abortion rights, immigration laws, and gun control, invoked violence as he railed against a ruling by  Judges Richard Posner, Frank Easterbrook, and William Bauer. The judges, all members of on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court, had voted to  uphold a gun control ban in Illinois.

“Let me be the first to say this plainly: These Judges deserve to be killed. Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty,” Turner wrote in one of several postings quoted Wednesday by Hogan. “These Judges deserve to [be] made such an example of as to send a message to the entire judiciary: Obey the Constitution or die.”

Additionally Turner posted the pictures, work addresses, and phone numbers of the three judges along with a reference to the killings of the mother and husband of Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow in 2005 saying: “Let this be an example for every other federal official.”

Turner’s attorney, Michael A. Orozco says the posts are not only protected by the Constitution, but also by the federal government because Turner was acting as an informant in an FBI plan to unearth radicals. In opening statements,  Orozco stated that Turner was  “nothing but a shock jock, a radio personality whose hand was guided by the federal government.”

Turner plans to pursue this defense by calling New Jersey Gov. Elect Christopher Christie to the stand. For more on the Turner case, see these other Gavel Grab posts. Click  for the Justice at Stake resource page on judicial threats.

Full post as published by The Gavel on December 03, 2009 (boomark / email).