Hal Turner's sentencing

[Demosthenes]

His sentencing is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday, 12/21/10) and the guidelines call for 33-41 months in prison with all those white supremacist types who aren't going to care for his sideline business with the FBI.

[Demosthenes]

The gov's sentencing memorandum is a must-read:

http://www.cheatingfrenzy.com/turner119.pdf

[bmielke]

Government is calling for upward departure, so given what we know about good old Hal do we think they'll get it?

Personally I hope so, I think 60-72 months might be a good place to start.

[Judge Roy Bean]

His sentencing is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday, 12/21/10) and the guidelines call for 33-41 months in prison with all those white supremacist types who aren't going to care for his sideline business with the FBI.

I would be more than surprised if Turner were put within reach of any other prisoners.

[Demosthenes]

Interesting bits from the gov's filing:

Turner’s characteristic tactic of trying to stop those who oppose him through the
use of intimidation and fear continued even after Turner was charged in this case. The
government informed Turner’s counsel prior to the third trial that the government
intended to call Special Agent Stephen Haug, Turner’s handler agent while Turner
cooperated with the FBI, as one of the witnesses at Turner’s trial. On July 28, 2010,
shortly after the government made this disclosure, Turner sent a series of text
messages to Agent Haug in which Turner threatened to say specified things about the
agent if Agent Haug dared to testify against him.

Turner’s own post-conviction conduct demonstrates that a significant sentence
of imprisonment is required in order to protect the public from further crimes by him.
Two incidents, both of which occurred while Turner has been incarcerated, are
summarized below.

1. Smuggling Tobacco Into MDC.

Turner has been in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center (“MDC”) in
Brooklyn since his August 13, 2010 conviction in this case. On or about September 29,
2010, an MDC official informed the government that tobacco, which is considered
contraband, and a photograph that had been marked “classified” had been recovered
from a package sent to Turner at the MDC. The package was marked “legal mail” and
bore the name and return address of one of Turner’s lawyers (“Lawyer 1"). The
government thereafter received from the MDC emails written by Turner and telephone
conversations between Turner and family members. These communications reflect that
Turner himself likely made arrangements for the tobacco to be sent to him and
manipulated the system in such a way as to make it appear as if a lawyer sent the
material.

[ ... ]

2. Turner’s Request for Personal Information about MDC Officials.
On October 10, 2010, Turner told Family Member 2 during a telephone call to
get “toothpick sized lengths of that stuff that we used around the pipes” and to make
sure Family Member 2 had “two of them” for an upcoming event Turner named in the
call. Turner stated words to the effect that “since it’s very, very small,” “one on each
side of the car, it will help add weight and it won’t trip anything, you know?” Turner
reiterated later in the conversation that the “two toothpick sized things” could be
“wrapped around the belt or something, you know, a belt buckle or something.” The
MDC staff members monitoring this call wrote an incident report about it due to a
concern that Turner was speaking in coded language to Family Member 2 about
smuggling contraband into the MDC.

On October 14, 2010, after Turner received a copy of the incident report, Turner
told Family Member 2 during a telephone conversation to write down the name of an
MDC employee (MDC Employee 1) and to do an “Intelius” on him first in New York
and then in New Jersey. “Intelius” is an Internet site that provides personal
information, such as address history and birthdates, about individuals based on the
individual’s name. Later, in the same conversation, Turner asked Family Member 1
to write down the name of MDC Employee 2 under the name of MDC Employee 1 and
to give the names to Family Member 2 because Family Member 2 “knows what to do
with that.”

[Demosthenes]

Hal got 33 months, the low end of the sentencing guidelines.

[Pottapaug1938]

Hal got 33 months, the low end of the sentencing guidelines.

With luck, he'll wind up in the general prison population....

[Unidyne]

Turner also has a reputation for playing fast and loose with the truth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amero#Amero_coins

I wonder if he'll be pulling similar crap while behind bars.

[Demosthenes]

For Immediate Release
December 21, 2010 United States Attorney's Office
Northern District of Illinois
Contact: (312) 353-5300
Internet Radio Host Hal Turner Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Threatening Three Federal Appeals Court Judges in Chicago over Decision Upholding Handgun Bans

CHICAGO—Hal Turner, an Internet radio talk show host and blogger, was sentenced today to 33 months in federal prison in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., for threatening to assault three federal appeals court judges in Chicago in retaliation for their 2009 ruling upholding handgun bans in Chicago and a suburb. Turner, 48, of North Bergen, N.J., has been in federal custody since he was convicted by a jury on Aug. 13, 2010, after a trial.

U.S. District Judge Donald Walter, of the Western District of Louisiana, also ordered Turner to serve six months in home confinement after he is released from custody as a condition of three years of supervised release. The judge found that Turner’s federal sentencing guideline range was 33 to 41 months, and Turner faced a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Walter was assigned to preside over the case after federal trial judges in Chicago were recused and he ordered the case moved to Brooklyn, where two previous trials—one in December 2009 and the second in March 2010—ended in mistrials after the juries were deadlocked.

Turner was arrested and charged in June 2009 for writing Internet postings that month that proclaimed “outrage” over a handgun decision by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, stating, among other things: “Let me be the first to say this plainly: These Judges deserve to be killed.” The postings included photographs, phone numbers, work address, and room numbers of these judges, along with a photo of the building in which they work and a map of its location.

Turner was charged with threatening to assault and murder three federal judges with intent to retaliate against them for performing official duties. All three judges testified at the trial in August.

“The criminal justice system simply could not function if an individual’s efforts to intimidate a judge through threats of violence were protected from prosecution and punishment,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “We live in a system where judges should be able to do their jobs and not have to look over their shoulders.” Mr. Fitzgerald thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of New York and the District of New Jersey for their assistance. Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which investigated the threats, thanked the FBI Office in Newark for providing local assistance.

According to the evidence, several lawsuits had challenged handgun bans in Chicago and suburban Oak Park after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the Second Amendment entitled handguns at home for self-protection. On June 2, 2009, the 7th 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 the local handgun bans. The unanimous decision was written by Chief Judge Easterbrook and joined by Judges Posner and Bauer.

On June 8, 2009, law enforcement agents were directed to postings on a web site. 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!” In addition to proclaiming “These judges deserve to be killed,” the entry noted that it was the same 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that decided the case of Matt Hale, a white-supremacist who was imprisoned after being convicted of soliciting the murder of a U.S. District Court judge in Chicago. The entry further noted that the same judge’s mother and husband were murdered by a gunman in her home. The posting then stated:

“Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit court didn’t get the hint after those killings. It appears another lesson is needed.”
The posting was updated the next morning on June 3, 2009, with the following content:

“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 the names, photos, phone numbers, work addresses, and room numbers of the three judges involved in the handgun decision, as well as a photo of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago and a map. The photo of the building had been modified to include arrows and a label referencing “Anti-truck bomb barriers.”

The government was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Diane MacArthur, William Ridgway and William Hogan.

[Demosthenes]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/0 ... s_jud.html

Excerpts:

Federal prosecutors told a judge they want to destroy four firearms, including a Mossberg 12- gauge shotgun, owned by Hal Turner, the internet radio host and blogger sentenced to 33 months in prison for threatening the lives of three U.S. appeals-court judges.

U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter Brooklyn, New York, ordered the weapons returned to someone of Turner’s “designation who is licensed to have them” when he imposed the sentence Dec. 21. Turner asked that they go to his mother.

In a court filing today, prosecutors asked Walter to reconsider his order, in part because e-mails show it appears Turner plans to pursue judicial and law-enforcement officials after he’s released from prison.

Turner told his mother in a Feb. 2 e-mail, written from prison, that “when I get out, I’m gonna go after some ‘problems’ and take care of them in a manner that will be horrific,” according to the filing. He made similar threats to his mother and an unidentified family member in other e-mails, prosecutors said.

In another Feb. 2 e-mail, Turner asked two unidentified family members to send him the personal information such as home addresses on “all the key members in my case,” including prosecutors and other judicial and law-enforcement officials, he had bought from an Internet site called Intelius, according to the court filing.

[Famspear]

Real smart, Hal.

Real smart.

If this guy keeps it up, he might end up with his picture on the wall in the office of every deputy U.S. marshal in the country.

[Pottapaug1938]

Real smart, Hal.

Real smart.

If this guy keeps it up, he might end up with his picture on the wall in the office of every deputy U.S. marshal in the country.

... and then strapped to a gurney in an execution chamber, somewhere.

[Gregg]

First, how in the world can one federal judge be fair in the trial of someone accused of threatening to kill a federal judge, of course he was convicted! He should have been tried in the Supreme Council Court of the Wappanani Indian, Great Warrior Clan, Dave Mathews Band District Court de jure, and I bet he would have gotten a fair trial there.

Afterall, has anyone who killed a federal judge ever been found not guilty? AND EVERY ONE OF THEM WAS TRIED IN A FEDERAL COURT, TOO!


[/acid flashback]

[LPC]

Turner told his mother in a Feb. 2 e-mail, written from prison, that “when I get out, I’m gonna go after some ‘problems’ and take care of them in a manner that will be horrific,” according to the filing. He made similar threats to his mother and an unidentified family member in other e-mails, prosecutors said.

Is this a going to be a remake of "White Heat" with James Cagney?

If so, Turner might want to start looking for "stunt double" right away.

[Lambkin]

And he's back.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_c ... rison.html

"Having gone through three trials and federal prison for almost three years, I can say without any hesitation I stand by every word I wrote," Turner said. "I did not threaten anybody. I am right. The District Court was wrong with regard to what constitutes a threat. And I expect to be vindicated on appeal."

He wants to write a book about his ordeal, he said, and perhaps go on speaking engagements. Eventually, he'd like to return to the media world as a television commentator.

[fortinbras]

Hal Turner, having completed his 2½ year prison sentence (during which time he was in a special incommunicado facility) and returned home, just had his appeal of his conviction thrown out.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case? ... 4388498813

This decision, issued on June 21st, is so recent that it is not yet in print (except in the NY Daily Law Journal for June 25th), but is on the CALR systems as 2013 u.s.app. LEXIS 12748 and 2013 WL 3111139, and is expected to be published in F3d (probably around October or November).

It may not have helped Turner that, while in the slam, he tried suing federal authorities for millions, claiming false arrest, false imprisonment, civil rights violations, all arising from his (then and now) undisturbed conviction. Since his conviction stands, that lawsuit is hopeless.

Since being released, Turner also filed a (doomed) federal lawsuit against a handful of members of the NJ state legislature for proposing an equally doomed piece of legislation that Turner found objectionable (although it did not affect Turner even remotely).

[LPC]

Hal Turner, having completed his 2½ year prison sentence (during which time he was in a special incommunicado facility) and returned home, just had his appeal of his conviction thrown out.

I don't know why you say "thrown out" because the decision was on the merits, the issues were not frivolous, and one of the three judges dissented and would have reversed.

For those who might prefer a PDF, here is the same opinion from the Second Circuit website.