Chicago Fed Jury Convicts White Supremacist Who Advocated Violence Against a Juror

By Allan Lengel

ticklethewire.com

A self-proclaimed white-supremacist was convicted Wednesday in Chicago federal court of soliciting violence against a Jewish jury foreman who helped convict another white-supremacist, Matthew Hale in 2004.

William A. White, 33, of Roanoke, Va., was convicted of one count of solicitation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

White was charged with advocating violence on his website overthrow.com against Chicago juror Mark Hoffman.

He wrote that Hoffman was a “gay, Jewish anti-racist” who wrongfully helped convict Hale, and posted Hoffman’s address and home phone number, with hopes that someone would do him harm, authorities said.

Hoffman helped convict Hale, who had ordered his head of security — who turned out to be an FBI informant — to kill U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow, according to the Sun-Times reported. At some point, two family members of Judge Lefkow’s were murdered by a disgruntled litigant not affiliated with a white supremacist group, the Sun-Times reported.

“While freedom of speech is among our most cherished rights, the First Amendment does not protect anyone who intends to induce others to kill or injure,” said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. “It is critical to our system of justice that jurors and judges alike must be free to perform their duties without living in fear.”

White also had postings encouraging violence against people like Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.