The Hal Turner Case

    In 2009 a hate blogger was arrested in New Jersey, he was accused in threatening to kill judges.His name is Hal Turner and he blogged at turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com that the judges should be “killed.”Turner:“Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed. Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty"(Kravets,2009).A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions,” A day later he posted addresses, photos,phone numbers, maps and other identifying information about Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer.

  Judge Donald Walter declared a mistrial and scheduled a third trial for April 12. Turner’s first trial in December also resulted in a deadlocked jury.The jury focused on whether Turner’s blog entries constituted a criminal threat or merely heated rhetoric that’s protected under the First Amendment. Turner ddescribes his blog as his work as a confidential FBI informant.He claims that the agency paid him more than $100,000 during the four years he worked as an informant. He also insisted he was not a white supremacist. Turner's defense is that he was just exercising his right to free speech. People like Turner remains free insted of facing up to a decade in prison. The 47-year-old maintained the First Amendment protected his speech. Turner was released from jail in New Jersey on June 10 after posting $25,000 bond. I think this case is a good example that the Firt Amandment makes similar cases complicated and that the people like Hal Turner misusing the freedom of the speech and taking advantage of it.

Kravets,2009.Mistrial in Case of Hate Blogger Charged With Judge Threats.Website: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/12/hate-blogger-mistrial/

Jersey Journal,2009.Jury in hate blogger Hal Turner's case told judge: We're deadlocked.Website:http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2009/12/jury_in_hate_blogger_hal_turne.html