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Posted: Wednesday, 01 July 2009 5:20PM
Judge Denies Bail for Blogger
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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- For the second time in a week, a judge denied bail to a New Jersey blogger and Internet radio host who is charged with using his Web site to threaten three federal judges in Chicago.
``I'm not persuaded that the defendant is not a danger to the community,'' U.S. Magistrate Michael Shipp said Wednesday before announcing his ruling.
Harold ``Hal'' Turner, who appeared in court handcuffed and wearing a yellow prison jumpsuit, did not speak during the hearing. He is to be transferred to Illinois to face arraignment on a charge of threatening to assault or murder three judges who refused to overturn handgun bans. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
Last week, Shipp denied a bail request that would have allowed the 47-year-old northern New Jersey resident to be released on a $200,000 bond secured by his mother's property in Pennsylvania and subject to 24-hour home confinement with no access to the Internet.
Turner's attorney, Michael Orozco, was allowed to ask again because the bail package was incomplete.
Assistant U.S. Attorney L. Judson Welle argued that Turner's blog continued to operate after he was jailed.
Welle also said Turner recorded a nine-minute message via telephone that was posted on his blog and identified the three FBI agents who questioned him after his June 24 arrest. Turner's recording included the statement that ``Everybody can be gotten to. John F. Kennedy proved that. What are a few lives in the grand scheme of liberty?''
Welle said, ``This poses an extreme danger if he continues to name potential witnesses.''
Orozco said the Web site was taken down Monday, and that recent postings were made primarily to seek money to help in Turner's defense.
Turner was arrested after writing on his blog that judges Richard Posner, Frank Easterbrook and William Bauer ``deserve to be killed'' and included a map showing the courthouse where the three are based. The post said their home addresses would be added later.
The posting also referred to the February 2005 murders of the mother and husband of Chicago-based federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow.
``Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court didn't get the hint after those killings,'' the posting said. ``It appears another lesson is needed.''
Turner has said he was questioned by the FBI about the killings because two years earlier he had said Lefkow deserved to be killed. He was not charged in the case.
Separately, Turner has been charged in Connecticut with inciting injury to persons or property after telling his readers they should ``take up arms'' against two Connecticut lawmakers over legislation on Catholic church finances. A court date was scheduled for later this month.
That charge also carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Orozco argued Wednesday that Turner's words have never incited anyone to commit violent acts.
``The fact that society finds his speech offensive is not sufficient reason to suppress it,'' he said.
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