No bail for blogger accused of threatening judges

NEWARK, N.J. — A judge denied bail Thursday 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, 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 Thursday 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. Shipp also noted that federal agents had discovered three pistols, a shotgun and several hundred rounds of ammunition at his apartment on Wednesday.

“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 Thursday 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.”

“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.