Litigation

Blogger Convicted in Threats on Judges

By Peter Hardin

Internet radio host and blogger Harold Turner was convicted in his third trial of threatening the lives of three federal appeals court judges. His two prior trials had ended in deadlock.

Turner was tried in a Brooklyn court for a statement posted on his blog, saying that the federal district judges who upheld a Chicago based ban on handguns deserved to be killed.

According to a Bloomberg article, ?You can?t threaten violence against people,? Assistant U.S. Attorney William Ridgway told jurors in his closing argument. ?You can use hate speech, love speech and anything in between. But threats are not protected by the First Amendment.?

His mother, Kathy Diamond, said after the verdict, ?There goes the First Amendment for everybody.? She added, ?Since when does words mean you threatened to kill somebody??

You can learn more about Turner’s case from Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on August 16, 2010 (boomark / email).