File 2006

William A. White, shown here protesting a fair housing conference in Roanoke County two years ago, faces a federal charge of encouraging violence against a juror who voted to convict a white supremacist.

Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

William A. White is taken from the Roanoke City Jail to a detention hearing in the Poff Federal Building Wednesday.

Related

Documents

• Read the indictment against White handed down Tuesday by a Chicago federal grand jury
  (PDF, 17 KB)
• Read the criminal complaint filed against White by the FBI
  (PDF, 714 KB)
• View overthrow.com postings presented as evidence by the government
  (PDF, 485 KB)
  Online editor's note: These documents contains language that some readers may consider offensive.

After listening for hours to the online ramblings and rantings of an angry neo-Nazi, a federal judge ruled Wednesday night that William A. White is a danger to the community and should be held without bond.

"It's your own words, Mr. White, that require me to detain you," U.S. magistrate Judge Michael Urbanski said.

White, the self-proclaimed commander of a Roanoke-based white supremacy movement, was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury in Chicago on charges of encouraging violence against a juror who voted to convict a fellow racist.

Among other things, White is charged with posting the juror's home address, telephone number and other personal information on his Web site, overthrow.com -- a forum for racist venom that was mentioned time and again Wednesday during more than four hours of testimony.

Although White insisted that the Web site was nothing more than "tabloid news" and not to be taken seriously, Urbanski zeroed in on two postings in which White wrote of his plans to commit mass murder.

"How is 'kill, kill, kill' subject to multiple interpretations?" Urbanski asked at one point.

That was a reference to this May 22 post by White: "Things have become progressively worse, day by day, and I have woke up more and more often feeling the need to kill, kill, kill, and have tried to get through my day while ignoring the need to destroy the wicked. It has not been easy."

That post and many others were introduced by federal prosecutors, who had White read his own words from the witness stand as they handed him one overthrow.com printout after another.

Nearly all of the posts were about topics unrelated to the charge White is facing. But prosecutors sought to present a pattern of conduct that is likely to come up during White's trial in Chicago.

In another post that Urbanski said was especially troubling, White wrote that he had developed a "very intricate plot for the murder of about a score of Roanoke City's Negro nuisances and their annoying counterparts at The Roanoke Times."

Asked about that passage, White said: "It is disturbing. It was written to be disturbing. It is not true. ... I write essentially tabloid news, half truth, half sensationalism and exaggeration."

White testified that he even thought about deleting the murder plot posting, but decided to keep it up because "it was really well-written."

He insisted that he would not be a threat if released on bond, arguing that prosecutors were twisting his words out of context.

But in asking that White be held without bond, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Hogeboom raised the specter of the Virginia Tech shootings and the ominous writings of a disturbed English major who committed the mass murder.

"The point is we do have a window into this gentleman's mind," Hogeboom said. "He's put down in words why he is a threat to the community."

Following his arrest Friday, White had been scheduled to face a preliminary hearing Wednesday and then a decision by Urbanski on whether he should be released from jail.

But the need for a preliminary hearing -- and with it the first test of the strength of the government's case -- was removed Tuesday when federal prosecutors in Chicago obtained a grand jury indictment against White.

White, 31, is charged with soliciting injury to the foreman of a jury that convicted a fellow white supremacist, Matthew Hale, of plotting to kill a federal judge in Chicago.

By calling the man a "gay, anti-racist" juror who played a key role in Hale's conviction and making his whereabouts known, federal prosecutors contend, White intended for someone to act on the information by harming or threatening the juror.

At the time he put the juror's information online, White knew that his Web site attracted an audience that "at times engaged in acts of violence directed at non-whites," the indictment charges.

The indictment outlines a number of other cases in which White has posted personal information about his self-proclaimed enemies and made veiled threats, including a call last year to "Lynch the Jena 6" -- a reference to six black teenagers whose arrest on assault charges triggered a major civil rights march in Jena, La.

Also included is an image that appeared on overthrow.com that shows presidential candidate Barack Obama, his head encircled by a rifle cross hairs in the shape of a swastika, along with the headline "Kill This N-----?"

Despite all the online rhetoric, prosecutors did not present a single piece of evidence to show that White was capable of acting on his words, defense attorney William Cleaveland said.

White has the option of appealing Urbanski's decision to keep him locked up. It was not clear Wednesday night if he will. But if the decision stands, he could be transferred to Chicago to await trial there within the next few weeks.