CHICAGO - A white supremacist blogger was arrested at his North Jersey home yesterday and charged with threatening to assault or murder three Chicago-based judges who refused to overturn local bans on handguns.
Hal Turner, 47, a former Internet radio talk-show host, was taken into custody by FBI agents who went to his North Bergen home with a search warrant, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors quoted a Turner Internet posting as saying: "Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed."
The posting included a map showing the Everett Dirksen Federal Courthouse, where the three judges are based. It said a map showing their homes would later be added.
The posting also referred to the 2005 murders of the mother and husband of Chicago-based federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow - a crime that sent shock waves across the nation.
"Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court didn't get the hint after those killings," the posting said. "It appears another lesson is needed."
U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald announced the arrest. "We take threats to federal judges very seriously - period," he said.
Turner organized a rally of supremacist groups in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 2007 and a neo-Nazi rally in Kingston, N.Y., in 2005. He ended his Internet show but continues a blog headed "Honest talk in a time of universal deceit."
Turner was arraigned Monday in Connecticut on a charge of encouraging violence against state legislators there. He allegedly told blog readers to "take up arms" against them.
In the latest case, Turner allegedly referred to the three judges who made the handgun ruling as "scum" and said that "their blood will replenish the tree of liberty."
The judges dismissed a lawsuit by the National Rifle Association that sought to overturn handgun bans in Chicago and suburban Oak Park. They ruled that the U.S. Supreme Court should make the decision on the ordinances. The judges were identified as Richard Posner, Frank Easterbrook, and William Bauer.
Turner was to appear today in federal court in Newark, N.J. The charge of threatening to assault or murder a federal judge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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