HAL TURNER SENTENCING DATE IS DEC. 3; HAS NEW ATTORNEYS FOR APPEAL

When Democrats and other assorted liberals wake up tomorrow morning, odds are it will be after a long night of crying, but at least there is one thing that should cheer them up – thirty days from tomorrow one Republican friend of radio show host Sean Hannity will be getting sentenced for his political BS. Everyone’s favorite neo-Nazi foul-up Hal Turner has been sitting in a Brooklyn lockup since his August conviction for threatening to murder three Chicago judges last year on his blog, and Dec. 3 will be the day he learns his fate. That doesn’t mean he is going to accept it, however. He plans to have new counsel as he appeals the decision, and judging from the letter he had written, he is none too happy about how the presiding judge handled the case. We are curious to see exactly what happens to Turner, but whatever does he still has similar charges to deal with in Connecticuit, where he threatened state legislators. And just think, if folks weren’t ripping Turner’s behind apart over his racist crap ten, fifteen years ago when he was a true political player, he just might be one of those Republicans cheering today, headed for DC, hand in hand with his old friend Hannity. You’re welcome.

North Jersey.com

Hal Turner, the imprisoned ultra-right-wing shock jock from North Bergen, will be represented by new counsel as he seeks to overturn his conviction for threatening to murder three Chicago judges last year.

Turner moved to replace his court-appointed public defenders after they missed the 14-day deadline for filing a motion seeking to set aside the jury’s verdict and grant a new trial.

But U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter, who presided over three trials before a jury finally found Turner guilty on Aug. 13 of using his Internet blog to threaten the judges, last week refused another of Turner’s requests — that the judge disqualify himself from any further proceedings in the case.

In a letter written from his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Turner protested he was not given a fair trial and specifically accused the judge of committing legal errors and abuse of his discretionary powers, the prosecutors of misconduct and his public defenders of botching his defense.

Turner blasted the judge for ignoring “40 years of Supreme Court case law which protects advocating violence,” for altering the definition of a “true threat,” and for disregarding his use of “crude political hyperbole” as defined by the high court.

“If [that] wasn’t bad enough,” Turner continued, “you willfully concealed from all three juries in all three of my trials, a ‘blanket letter of declination’ issued by the United State Attorney for the District of New Jersey (my home state) which says I would not be prosecuted for anything I said on my radio show or anything I published on my web site because I was trained by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and knew the legal limits of protected speech.”

Turner added he received “this legal advice from the FBI in my role as a National Security Intelligence Operative” for the JTTF.

FBI documents confirm Turner was highly valued as a confidential intelligence source on extremists in the white supremacist movement, but his handler denied ever giving Turner legal advice on the limits of protected speech. In addition, prosecutors claim there never was a “blanket letter of declination” giving Turner free reign to say whatever he pleased.

Turner moved to replace his court-appointed public defenders after they missed the 14-day deadline for filing a motion seeking to set aside the jury’s verdict and grant a new trial. Turner called it the “last straw in a long series of foul-ups, blunders, failures and missteps.”

The judge relieved Turner’s lawyers, noting they agreed new counsel should be appointed, and said he will name a replacement within 10 days.

In a seemingly contradictory ruling, the judge also granted Turner’s request for an extension of time to file a motion for a new trial, then summarily denied the motion.

“The court is thoroughly familiar with the history of this case and the testimony and evidence produced at trial, and has determined that a new trial is not required in the interests of justice,” Walter wrote.

A federal court jury in Brooklyn took less than two hours to find Turner, 48, guilty of threatening three federal appeals court judges after they upheld handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park, Ill., last year.

Turner was immediately locked up as a danger to the community. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine at his sentencing Dec. 3.

Turner’s first two trials, in December and March, ended in mistrials after the juries deadlocked with the majorities reportedly favoring acquittal.