Radio host gets 33-months prison for threatening judges

[PeaceNikki]

Source: Reuters

A right-wing Internet radio host was sentenced on Tuesday to 33 months in prison for threatening the lives of three Chicago federal appeals court judges after they upheld a local gun control law.

Harold Turner, 48, was convicted by a jury in August in Brooklyn federal court following two mistrials. He was arrested in June 2009 and charged with one count of threatening to assault or murder the three judges.

Turner used his radio broadcasts to target Judges Frank Easterbrook, Richard Posner and William Bauer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago, who had upheld a local handgun law.

He said they had acted in "a manner so sleazy and cunning as to deserve the ultimate punishment." He called for their murder and published their photographs and work addresses online.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BK6DE20101221

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Finally, justice.

I have to wonder why it took three juries to convict him.

[Alameda]

3. I agree, that is very odd.

[DainBramaged]

5. Because too many people think like this dirtbag

We'll see what kind of sympathy he gets in prison....

[PeaceNikki]

6. Right. Known FBI informant and white supremacist.

That'll work out well for him, no doubt.

[Dokkie]

11. Hmm

could be because he was an FBI informant playing the part as he was instructed by his handlers. I don't know if i would have voted to convict hi without the his handlers right along with him if i had been one of the jury. The fall guy goes to jail while the organizers get off scot-free.

[Rabrrrrrr]

33. organizers get off scot-free in a good position to go hunt down the jury...

I hear ya.

[Towlie]

23. You mean "Finally we hear about it." Convicted in August? Reported on 12/21?, Posted here now? WTF?

[comtec]

28. As much as i hate people like this... this feels wrong

two mistrials?
that just means they weren't able to get him?
doesn't it feel like double jeopardy tho?
I mean, yes it is despicable but...
i dunno.
something just feels wrong about this entire process.

i mean it's not like he's openly advocated for the death of the president...
i think we should take THEM down first...

oh well one asshole down...

[cui bono]

2. Thank you for playing. Next! n/t

[iandhr]

4. Its good that he will rot in

But a man from New Jersey and does a radio show in Jersey threatens judges in Chicago gets tried in Brooklyn court and the trial judge is from Louisiana? The law makes my head spin sometimes.

[DeSwiss]

7. Now, on to those bastards Limbaugh and Beck.......

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sn8rHLP3qU8/SpWxa-v3Q-I/AAAAAAAABw8/U2eC1UHYa5M/s400/limbaugh+beck+fail.jpg


K&R

[DefenseLawyer]

8. Isn't he Hannity's BFF? n/t

[sabrina 1]

13. Yes, he was once a friend of Hannity airc.

[elocs]

9. These judges upheld a local gun control law? One of our DU forums will be pissed.

:grr: :nuke:

[spin]

14. Chicago has a long history of gun control ...

which has proven to be unsuccessful at lowering crime. Currently Chicago is fighting a delaying game and attempting to do everything possible to make owning a handgun inside the city difficult.

While I support allowing honest citizens to own firearms for legitimate purposes including self defense, I, in no way, support calling for the murder of judges who disagree with my views.

The First and Second Amendments are the two most important amendments in the Bill of Rights. They both grant citizens of our country tremendous power. With this power comes serious responsibility. This radio host used his First Amendment rights irresponsibly to ask other to use their Second Amendment rights irresponsibly.

Chicago gun laws will eventually be decided in the courts. There's a good possibility that Chicago's efforts to resist the ruling of the U. S. Supreme Court in McDonald v. Chicago will result in future rulings which will he harsher to Chicago's position then would have existed if Chicago would have been more reasonable.

The legal system is where the issue should play out and given time it will.

[kenfrequed]

26. Handgun control is not relevant.

The guy proved that, even were it legal, he should be among the last to carry a handgun. He was inciting assassination and murder under the auspices of civil liberties.

[spin]

27. In my opinion, he doesn't deserve a microphone either. (n/t)

[AtheistCrusader]

17. Not at all. The Supreme Court already overruled these three idiots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald_v._Chicago


Doesn't excuse captain dumbass white supremacist for threatening these judges though. Jail is absolutely required for what he did.

[FreakinDJ]

10. K&R

[Stuart G]

12. K and R

[Hawkeye-X]

15. Hopefully his 33 month sentence will be continued to extend to 25-to-life sentence

after he has to shank someone to get in to the AB, and he fucks it up.

Hawkeye-X

[Initech]

16. Sooner or later, they'll all get caught.

[midnight]

18. Glad they are taking this seriously. I immediately thought about what happened to Chicago Judge

Lefkow's family in 2005.



A 57-year-old man admitted killing Judge Lefkow's husband and mother in a letter to a Chicago television station and in a suicide note in his van. Bart A. Ross, who committed suicide on March 9 after he was stopped for a routine traffic violation in West Allis, Wisconsin, said that he killed Lefkow's relatives because of the judge's ruling against him. Authorities said that the DNA found on a cigarette butt found at the scene of the murders matches that of Ross. The .22-caliber shells investigators found in Ross' van also matched the casings found in Judge Lefkow's home.http://www.adl.org/learn/extremism_in_the_news/White_Supremacy/Lefkow_Update_3_9_05.htm?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_the_News

[alp227]

19. This is old news from the 21st - why's it on the front page?

Slow news day huh? Regardless still a good story.

[HEyHEY]

20. A turncoat white supremicist? Prison won't be too much fun for this guy

That smug look ain't gonna last long!

[ooglymoogly]

32. A poster bigot for the schoolyard bully. He will join the skinheads

for protection and become some bigger than life bully's exercise mat.

[hlthe2b]

21. So why aren't all the Faux news pundits going with him? n/t

especially Beck, O'Reilly, and of course, the independent big mouth, Limbaugh.

[spin]

29. Occasionally I watch Glenn Beck ...

as he is an entertaining buffoon.

I have never heard him advocate the use of violence to push the Fox conservative agenda. In the programs I have watched he has advocated not using violence as this would be counterproductive. This only makes sense. If some conservative nuts had went out and murdered the three judges, we would now be talking about draconian gun laws and confiscations of firearms.

Admittedly I don't watch Beck on a daily basis nor do I attend his rallies. He cay have made comments that I am unaware of. I rarely watch O'Reilly as he is just too pompous and full of himself to endure. I haven't listened to Limbaugh since the early Clinton years.

I would imagine that Fox News has a legal team that would raise hell if one of their talking heads ever proposed assassinating someone. The talking head would probably be fired the next day, similar to how CNN handles their problem anchors.

[hlthe2b]

30. Beck's rhetoric was cited as the reason for Byron Williams to

embark on his planned assasination spree. By HIS OWN confession. (and this is not the first such accusation)...So, I beg to differ re: Beck. He's a despicable waste of human protoplasm and yes, dangerous.

http://mediamatters.org/research/201010110002

"Progressive Hunter"
Jailhouse Confession: How the right-wing media and Glenn Beck's chalkboard drove Byron Williams to plot assassination
by John Hamilton
October 11, 2010 6:56 am ET — 341 Comments

"I would have never started watching Fox News if it wasn't for the fact that Beck was on there. And it was the things that he did, it was the things he exposed that blew my mind." - Byron Williams

Byron Williams, a 45-year-old ex-felon, exploded onto the national stage in the early morning hours of July 18.

According to a police investigation, Williams opened fire on California Highway Patrol officers who had stopped him on an Oakland freeway for driving erratically. For 12 frantic minutes, Williams traded shots with the police, employing three firearms and a small arsenal of ammunition, including armor-piercing rounds fired from a .308-caliber rifle.

When the smoke cleared, Williams surrendered; the ballistic body armor he was wearing had saved his life. Miraculously, only two of the 10 CHP officers involved in the shootout were injured.

In an affidavit, an Oakland police investigator reported that during an interview at the hospital, Williams "stated that his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU."

[spin]

31. Interesting ...

I see Beck as a buffoon and get a laugh out of his chalkboards and how he could figure a way to create a conspiracy from a ashtray filled with Tide Powder detergent.

Someone else watches the same program and wants to start a revolution.

Maybe that's why Beck often warns against violence on his program. He knows he appeals to whack jobs.

It also strikes me as strange that the most powerful news media voices in our society today appear to be comedians and entertainers. Jon Stewart, Saturday Nite Live, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are hard to take seriously, but all have a great impact on what the public believes.

It might have something to do with the total failure of education in our country.

[SidDithers]

22. Poor Hal...

I don't think he ever got over the spanking he got from 4chan :rofl:

Sid

[barbtries]

24. wow

rightwinger pays the price. beck, palin, coulter, o'reilly and so on, they all walk free and make great big bucks, but this guy got almost as much time as the woman who murdered my daughter got.
it's not that i don't think he deserved to be punished. it's the lopsided way that justice is meted out.let's not even bring the former administration into the discussion. i could scream.

[grahamhgreen]

25. Next! The big dog! nt

[Rex]

34. Great! Bout Fn time some of the hate radio assholes went to jail!

When are Glenn and Rush going to be arrested!? :sarcasm: