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FBI Arrests Blogger for Allegedly Threatening Judges (Update2)
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By Andrew M. Harris

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- A New Jersey man described as an Internet radio talk show host and blogger was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill three U.S. Appeals Court judges in Chicago who earlier this month upheld a law banning handguns.

Hal Turner, 47, of North Bergen was arrested by U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents at his home today, according to a statement issued by Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

In the days after the judges’ June 2 decision to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of a National Rifle Association lawsuit challenging the ban, Turner posted on his Web site their names, photographs, phone numbers and work addresses, together with a picture of the courthouse delineating stanchions he called “anti-truck bomb barriers,” according to Fitzgerald.

“Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed,” Turner allegedly said in one Web site posting, according to Fitzgerald.

“We take threats to federal judges very seriously. Period.” the prosecutor said.

The judges who issued the ruling were 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, as well as Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook.

Unanimous Decision

In their unanimous decision, written by Easterbrook, the judges had said that U.S. Supreme Court precedent, established last year in a high court ruling that struck down a similar ban enacted in Washington, precluded their invalidating the Chicago law.

“The Supreme Court has rebuffed requests to apply the Second Amendment to the states,” Easterbrook wrote, referencing the provision of the U.S. Constitution that the Supreme Court had recognized as conferring an individualized right to bear arms.

“These judges deserve to be made such an example of as to send a message to the entire judiciary: Obey the Constitution or die,” Turner reportedly wrote on his Internet site, according to a 10-page affidavit by FBI agent John Marsh, appended to the criminal complaint filed against Turner in Chicago federal court.

Double Murder

In 2005, the mother and husband of Chicago U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow were shot and killed in her home.

While her life previously had been threatened by since- jailed white supremacist Matthew Hale, who lost a case before her, the double-murder was later ascribed to another man unconnected with White, who whose medical malpractice lawsuit Lefkow had dismissed.

That man, Bart Ross, allegedly admitted to the killings in a note he penned before shooting himself in his car during a March 2005 traffic stop in a Milwaukee suburb.

Alluding to the Lefkow murders, Turner said in another posting, “Apparently the 7th U.S. Circuit Court didn’t get the hint after those killings. It appears another lesson is needed,” the Marsh affidavit said.

Turner is due to make an initial court appearance in Newark, New Jersey, federal court tomorrow, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Shipp. Information about defense counsel for Turner wasn’t immediately available, Fitzgerald’s spokesman, Randall Samborn, said.

April Web Log

Two days ago, Turner was arraigned in a Hartford, Connecticut court on charges he had used his Web log to incite violence against state legislators there, the Associated Press reported on June 22. He didn’t enter a plea, AP said.

In April, Turner wrote on his Web log that 16 of the largest U.S. banks were “already technically insolvent,” failing the federal government’s so-called stress test.

The April 20 posting was cited by the Web site FlyOnTheWall.com, at 8:14 a.m. New York time, after which the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund, an exchange-traded fund tracking banks, brokerages and insurers, fell from $10.75 to $10.62 in six minutes.

At 8:30 a.m., FlyOnTheWall advised readers to disregard the earlier posting and U.S. Treasury Department spokesman Andrew Williams later told Bloomberg News the posting was bogus, “particularly given we don’t have stress test results yet.”

Reached by phone that day, Turner declined to say who would have given him the government data. The results were made public in May.

Threatening to kill a federal judge is punishable by as many as 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the prosecutor said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew M. Harris at the federal court in Chicago at 5474 or aharris16@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 24, 2009 19:46 EDT