A federal judge in Chicago has dismissed a charge of threatening a juror against Bill White.
The Roanoke based white supremacist (and residential property landlord) has been in federal custody since last October, when a Chicago federal grand jury indicted him for an alleged on-line threat against a juror in the 2003 Matthew Hale trial.
The jury sentenced Hale, a fellow white supremacist, to 40 years in prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill a federal judge presiding over a civil trial in which Hale’s group was involved. The same judge, Joan Lefkow, lost her husband and mother in 2005, both shot dead in Lefkow’s basement.
In an opinion filled with nearly three dozen pages of legalese and footnotes for case law, the judge basically ruled federal prosecutors failed to show it had any evidence White’s on-line rant against the Hale juror was a direct threat of violence.
The judge also found recent case law points to legal protection for White’s writings under the First Amendment. White faces similar charges here in Roanoke. It’s unclear what, if any effect, the Chicago judge’s ruling will have here.
From media partner WSLS-10.
