Hal Turner arrested on federal charges

NEWARK -- A judge denied bail today to a New Jersey blogger charged with threatening to assault or murder three Chicago-based federal judges.

U.S. Magistrate Michael Shipp ordered Harold "Hal" Turner transferred to Illinois to face the charge, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

According to a federal complaint, the 47-year-old Turner threatened three Chicago appellate judges who refused to overturn handgun bans.

"These judges deserve to be killed," Turner wrote on his blog, http://www.turnerradionetwork.com, according to the complaint, and he also provided a map showing the Chicago courthouse where the judges are based and said a map showing their homes would be added.

The blog entry also referenced the 2005 murders of the mother and husband of U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. Matt Hale, a white supremacist, was convicted in 2004 of plotting to have Lefkow killed after she ruled against his organization.

"Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit court didn't get the hint after those killings. It appears another lesson is needed," Turner wrote, according to prosecutors.

Turner, who was questioned in 2005 but not charged in the Lefkow murders, also faces a charge of encouraging violence against two state legislators in Connecticut after he urged readers "to take up arms" over controversial legislation on Catholic parish finances.

Attorneys on both sides had reached a tentative agreement today that would have allowed Turner to be released on $200,000 bail, confined to his northern New Jersey home and prohibited from using the Internet by monitoring software.

But Shipp expressed reservations with the bail package, under which Turner's mother would guarantee his bail using a house she owns in Pennsylvania.

During today's hearing, it was disclosed that FBI officials seized 200 rounds of ammunition and 150 hollow-point bullets from Turner's home, according to a report in the Jersey Journal. Possession of hollow-point bullets is illegal.

"I'm concerned about the danger to the community," Shipp said before ruling.

Michael Orozco, an attorney representing Turner, said he planned to revisit the bail issue as early as Friday and that Turner still could be released.

Turner appeared in court today handcuffed and in a T-shirt and jeans. He did not speak, except to respond affirmatively to Shipp when asked if he understood the charge against him.

Turner's mother, wife and brother attended the hearing but declined to comment afterward.

Orozco described the case as "clearly a First Amendment issue."

federal complaint foru8m filed

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
HAL TURNER
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
CASE NUMBER:
I, the undersigned complainant, being duly sworn on oath, state that the following is true and correct to the best of my
knowledge and belief:
On or about June 2, 2009, and June 3, 2009, in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and elsewhere, HAL
TURNER, defendant herein:
threatened to assault and murder three United States judges with intent to retaliate against such judges on account
of the performance of official duties;
in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 115(a)(1)(B). I further state that I am a Special Agent with the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, and that this complaint is based on the facts contained in the Affidavit which is attached hereto and
incorporated herein.
Signature of Complainant
John Marsh
Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Sworn to before me and subscribed in my presence,
June 24, 2009 at Chicago, Illinois
Date City and State
MARTIN C. ASHMAN, U.S. Magistrate Judge
Name & Title of Judicial Officer Signature of Judicial Officer
1
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT )
) ss
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS )
AFFIDAVIT
I, John Marsh, being duly sworn, state as follows:
1. I am a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and
have been so employed for almost three years. My current responsibilities include the
investigation of violent crimes, including, among others, kidnaping, bank robbery, and the
apprehension of violent fugitives.
2. This affidavit is submitted in support of a criminal complaint alleging
that Hal Turner (“TURNER”) has violated Title 18, United States Code, Section
115(a)(1)(B). Because this affidavit is being submitted for the limited purpose of establishing
probable cause in support of a criminal complaint charging TURNER with threats to assault
and murder a United States judge with intent to retaliate against such judge on account of the
performance of official duties, I have not included each and every fact known to me
concerning this investigation. I have set forth only the facts that I believe are necessary to
establish probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the offense alleged in the
complaint. This affidavit is based on my personal knowledge and on information provided
to me by other law enforcement agents.
FACTS SUPPORTING PROBABLE CAUSE
2
3. As part of this investigation, I have learned that after the Supreme
Court concluded in District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008), that the Second
Amendment entitles handguns at home for self-protection, several suits were filed
challenging similar handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois. On June 2, 2009, the
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion in National Rifle
Association v. Chicago, Nos. 08-4241, 08-4243 & 08-4244, affirming a district court's
decision to dismiss the cases challenging handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park. The
Seventh Circuit Court's decision was written by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and was
joined by Judge Richard Posner and Judge William Bauer.
Turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com
4. On or about June 8, 2009, law enforcement was directed to an entry
for an Internet posting on the website turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com. FBI agents visited
the website with the domain turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com. At the top of the website was
the heading, “Turner Radio Network,” below which an address was listed. The address,
which was identified as a “Postal Mailing Address,” was “1906 Paterson Plank Road, North
Bergen, NJ 07047-1900, USA.”
5. The front page of the site contained an entry dated June 2, 2009, that
was titled, "OUTRAGE: Chicago Gun Ban UPHELD; Court says ‘Heller' ruling by Supreme
Court not applicable to states or municipalities!" After describing the Seventh Circuit's June
2, 2009, decision in National Rifle Association v. Chicago, the entry read:
3
The federal Judges at both the District Court and now at the Federal Circuit Court of
Appeals have intentionally ignored the common language of the Second Amendment
and have now intentionally ignored a clear ruling by the US Supreme Court on the
matter.
All the years of peaceful legal challenges; all the years of peaceful appeals; all the
years of peacefully and lawfully lobbying federal and state legislators, to achieve the
penultimate goal of finally interpreting the meaning of the Second Amendment, only
to have it all thrown in the trash by three Appellate Judges in a manner so sleazy and
cunning as to deserve the ultimate response.
This is what happens folks, when YOU play by the rules. Government does not.
This is what happens when YOU have faith in the system. The government laughs at
your blissful ignorance.
This is what happens when YOU believe the government is honorable. Our present
government is not.
The government - and especially these three Judges - are cunning, ruthless,
untrustworthy, disloyal, unpatriotic, deceitful scum. Their entire reason for existing
is to accrue unto themselves, power over everything.
The only thing that has ever stood in the way of their achieving ultimate power is the
fact that We The People have guns. Now, that is very much in jeopardy.
Government lies, cheats, manipulates, twists and outright disobeys the supreme law
and founding documents of this land because they have not, in our lifetime, faced
REAL free men willing to walk up to them and kill them for their defiance and
disobedience.
Thomas Jefferson, one of our Founding Fathers, told us "The tree of liberty must be
replenished from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots." It is time to
replenish the tree!
Let me be the first to say this plainly: These Judges deserve to be killed. Their blood
will replenish the tree of liberty. A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions.
This is not the first politically-motivated trash to come out of the Seventh U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals. In fact, it was the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that
decided in the Matt Hale Case, that a group which fraudulently trademarked the name
1 On February 28, 2005, the mother and husband of a judge on the United States District
Court for the Northern District of Illinois were murdered.
4
"World Church of the Creator" despite the fact they knew that name had been used
by a Church for 30 years, could KEEP the name because the church who had used it
for 30 years didn't challenge the Trademark filing!
By not challenging the Trademark registration, the people who had used the name for
years LOST IT.
That decision lead to an order by a lower court for the Church to "surrender its Bibles
for destruction because they infringed on the trademark" given to the fraudsters.
Shortly thereafter, a gunman entered the home of that lower court Judge and
slaughtered the Judge's mother and husband.[1] Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit court
didn't get the hint after those killings. It appears another lesson is needed.
These Judges are traitors to the United States of America. They have intentionally
violated the Constitution. They have now also intentionally ignored a major ruling by
the US Supreme Court.
If they are allowed to get away with this by surviving, other Judges will act the same
way.
These Judges deserve to made such an example of as to send a message to the entire
judiciary: Obey the Constitution or die.
6. On June 3, 2009, at 8:57 a.m., the entry described above was updated.
Below the above text, it read: “Judges official public work addresses and a map of the area
are below. Their home addresses and maps will follow soon. Behold these devils." Below
this headline, the entry listed a name, photograph, phone number, and the work address and
room number of the three Seventh Circuit judges involved in the decision. Following this
information about the judges, the entry displayed a picture of the Dirksen Federal Building
in Chicago, Illinois, the location of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh
5
Circuit, along with a map depicting the location of the Dirksen Federal Building. The picture
of the Dirksen Federal Building contained the label, “Anti-truck bomb barriers,” from which
arrows pointed to three different parts of the building.
7. I have confirmed that the photographs, phone numbers, work
addresses, and room numbers of the three Seventh Circuit judges are accurate.
8. Also posted on turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com was an entry dated
June 3, 2009, and titled, “Another Abortion Target Volunteers.” Below this heading was the
following text:
After the killing of abortionist George Tiller, another "doctor" has publicly announced
he wishes to take Tiller's place to continue partial birth abortions!
Physician [Name] of Omaha, NE wants to continue providing third-term abortions
after the brazen slaying of his friend and colleague George Tiller.
Gee, this is becoming a "target-rich environment!"
I suspect someone has a bullet for this guy too. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
9. FBI Agents searched the archived history of the website
Turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com. Within the archived history of
Turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com was an entry dated February 20, 2009, titled, "Fucking
Federal Judges Never Learn - but I hereby WARN one of them." The entry addressed a Judge
of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey concerning a temporary
restraining order issued against a company in a lawsuit for discriminatory hiring practices:
Well, I've got news for the latest federal Judge, [Name] and the NAACP concerning
this latest hiring freeze spawned by the latest lawsuit: if your actions kill more people,
don't expect to walk away unscathed this time.
6
I don't give a shit about sovereign immunity or the US Marshal Service that protects
federal judges. I don't give a shit about laws preventing retaliation against parties to
a judicial proceeding. I don't give a shit about US Attorneys bringing Indictments
against me or securing court orders against me, because they won't be worth the paper
they're written on.
Know now: the days of politically-correct Judges and race-hustling, poverty pimps
in the NAACP causing people's deaths without consequence, are over.
The course of action taken by the Judge and the NAACP will, at some point, endanger
my life, the lives of my family and the lives of tens-of-thousands of other Hudson
County residents. We have an absolute right to defend ourselves -- and this time, we
will.
This time, if people die, the people responsible will either be brought to justice or
justice will be brought to them.
10. Also within the archived history of Turnerradionetowrk.blogspot.com
was a post dated January 4, 2009, titled, “Add 2 More Judges to the ‘Rope List.’” In
reference to a January 4, 2009, decision by the Indiana Court of Appeals that attempted
sexual misconduct with a minor requires that the victim actually be a minor, the entry states,
“You folks in Indiana who have been planning with me for our national cleansing of
government filth - scheduled for the not-to-distant future - had better go out and buy more
rope. It appears we have to add two more Judges to a list of filth that needs to ‘swing.'"
11. FBI Agents also searched the archived history of the website
halturnershow.blogspot.com. At the top of the website is the heading, “Hal Turner Show,”
below which an address is listed. The address, which is identified as a “Postal Mailing
Address," is “1906 Paterson Plank Road, North Bergen, NJ 07047-1900, USA.”
7
12. Posted on halturnershow.blogspot.com was an entry dated January
25, 2009, and titled, “A Tyrant in Garrison, NY.” Below this heading was a post about a
judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The entry
included the following statements:
If Judge [Name] fails to start obeying the Constitution, she would do well to
remember what happened to another federal Judge that I chose to heap scorn upon:
US District Court Judge [Name] in Chicago. After I heaped scorn upon her, someone
went to her house and gunned down her family.
...Oh and if you dare try to do anything at all about MY freedom of speech in undertaking
these activities, be warned: I will enforce my First Amendment freedom by making swift and
effective use of my Second Amendment freedom. The only thing you have to ask yourselves
is whether or not you're willing to be on the wrong end of the Second Amendment when my
finger is on the trigger. Be assured that I will not hesitate for even a fraction of a second to
defend my freedom.
13. Based on statements contained in the entries on June 2, 2009, and
June 3, 2009, about Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook, Judge Richard Posner, and Judge
William Bauer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, I submit to the
Court that the entries constitutes a threat to assault or murder a United States judge with
intent to retaliate against such judge on account of the performance of official duties. I base
that conclusion in part on:
a. the statements contained in the entry about the judges, including:
Let me be the first to say this plainly: These Judges deserve to be killed. Their blood
will replenish the tree of liberty. A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions.
...[A] gunman entered the home of that lower court Judge and slaughtered the Judge's
mother and husband. Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit court didn't get the hint after
those killings. It appears another lesson is needed.
8
If they are allowed to get away with this by surviving, other Judges will act the same
way.
These Judges deserve to made such an example of as to send a message to the entire
judiciary: Obey the Constitution or die.
b. the inclusion of the judges’ photographs, phone numbers, work
addresses and room numbers, along with photograph of the building in which they work and
a map of the building’s location; and
c. the reference to the murder of the mother and husband of a United
States District Court Judge in the Northern District of Illinois, along with the statement that
“it appears another lesson is needed.”
Tracing the IP Address
14. Using the web site http://www.domaintools.com, law enforcement agents
performed a "whois" search for the domain name turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com. A
"whois" search provides publicly available information as to which entity is responsible for
a particular domain name. The search results indicated that the domain name
turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com is registered with Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre
Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043.
15. Records obtained from Google Inc. disclose that the blog associated
with the domain name turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com was registered on January 6, 2006.
The email address for the registration was secret12@optonline.net, which was an email
address provided by Optimum Online, 111 Stewart Avenue, Bethpage, NY 11714. The
records also reflect that between January 2, 2009, and January 3, 2009, of the logins to the
9
blog account associated with the domain name turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com, thirty-five
came from the IP address 68.192.126.181.
16. Law enforcement agents then performed a "whois" search on
http://www.domaintools.com for the IP address 68.192.126.181. The search result indicated that
the IP address 68.192.126.181 was allocated to Optimum Online, 111 Stewart Avenue,
Bethpage, NY 11714, an ISP. Records obtained from Optimum Online disclose that between
June 2, 2003 and June 3, 2009, the IP address 68.192.126.181 was assigned to Phyllis Turner,
1906 Paterson Plank, Apt. 1A, North Bergen, NJ 07047-1900. The subscriber used the same
address for billing.
17. On or about June 22, 2009, an FBI agent searched Accurint, a
database of public records, for information relating 1906 Paterson Plank, Apt. 1A, North
Bergen, New Jersey, which reported that HAL TURNER and Phyllis Turner currently reside
at that address.
Interview of Turner
18. On June 24, 2009, FBI Special Agent Mark Wallschlaeger
interviewed TURNER at 1906 Paterson Plank, Apt. 1A, North Bergen, New Jersey.
TURNER said that he drafted and posted all of the entries on turnernetwork.blogspot.com,
including the entries of June 2, 2009, and June 3, 2009, about Chief Judge Frank
Easterbrook, Judge Richard Posner, and Judge William Bauer of the United States Court of
10
Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. TURNER told Special Agent Wallschlaeger that he did not
intend to injure the judges but believed he would be criminally responsible if someone
reading his website acted on what he posted to his website.
CONCLUSION
19. Based on the above information, I submit there is probable cause that
on or about June 2, 2009, and June 3, 2009, TURNER threatened to assault and murder three
United States judges with intent to retaliate against such judges on account of the
performance of official duties, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section
115(a)(1)(B).
FURTHER AFFIANT SAYETH NOT.
John Marsh
Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me on June 24, 2009.
MARTIN C. ASHMAN
United States Magistrate Judge

"It's going to be a factual issue about what he stated in the blog and whether or not anyone was actually going to act on that information," he said.admin Site