Friday, July 31, 2009
Neo-Nazi White ordered held without bond
A federal judge in Chicago denied bond today for William A. White, one week after a charge against the neo-Nazi leader of using the Internet to encourage violence was dismissed.
White will remain in custody while awaiting transfer to Roanoke, where he faces additional charges of making threats by telephone, e-mail and through his now-defunct Web site, overthrow.com.
The bond hearing in U.S . District Court in Chicago marked the latest effort by White to win freedom in what has become his free-speech battle with the federal government.
"Five judges have found him dangerous to the community while charges are pending, and the court believes those decisions were well-reasoned and thorough," Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow said in denying bond.
"The court believes he is still a danger to the community."
White had been charged in Chicago with posting the name, address and telephone number of the foreman of the jury that convicted a fellow white supremacist. Although prosecutors had argued that White hoped one of his followers might harm the man, a judge ruled that his actions were protected by the First Amendment.
In the Roanoke case, prosecutors say White picked targets across the country: a bank employee in Kansas City, a human rights lawyer in Canada, a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist in Maryland, a university administrator in Delaware, a small-town mayor in New Jersey and a group of apartment complex tenants in Virginia Beach.
Most of the comments stemmed from White’s anger over racial issues, such as a column by Leonard Pitts about black-on-white crime.
White also is facing a lawsuit filed by the apartment complex tenants, whom he contacted after learning they had filed a housing discrimination case against their landlord.
In angry letters displaying a swastika logo, White called the tenants "whiny Section 8 n------" and wrote that the white community’s "patience with you and the government that coddles you runs thin."
A Sept. 2 trail date has been scheduled in the civil case. But White’s attorney has requested that the trial be postponed until the remaining criminal charges are resolved.
White will remain in custody while awaiting transfer to Roanoke, where he faces additional charges of making threats by telephone, e-mail and through his now-defunct Web site, overthrow.com.
The bond hearing in U.S . District Court in Chicago marked the latest effort by White to win freedom in what has become his free-speech battle with the federal government.
"Five judges have found him dangerous to the community while charges are pending, and the court believes those decisions were well-reasoned and thorough," Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow said in denying bond.
"The court believes he is still a danger to the community."
White had been charged in Chicago with posting the name, address and telephone number of the foreman of the jury that convicted a fellow white supremacist. Although prosecutors had argued that White hoped one of his followers might harm the man, a judge ruled that his actions were protected by the First Amendment.
In the Roanoke case, prosecutors say White picked targets across the country: a bank employee in Kansas City, a human rights lawyer in Canada, a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist in Maryland, a university administrator in Delaware, a small-town mayor in New Jersey and a group of apartment complex tenants in Virginia Beach.
Most of the comments stemmed from White’s anger over racial issues, such as a column by Leonard Pitts about black-on-white crime.
White also is facing a lawsuit filed by the apartment complex tenants, whom he contacted after learning they had filed a housing discrimination case against their landlord.
In angry letters displaying a swastika logo, White called the tenants "whiny Section 8 n------" and wrote that the white community’s "patience with you and the government that coddles you runs thin."
A Sept. 2 trail date has been scheduled in the civil case. But White’s attorney has requested that the trial be postponed until the remaining criminal charges are resolved.
