NORTH BERGEN – Internet blogger and radio “shock jock” Hal Turner, who lives in North Bergen, was sentenced in 2010 to 33 months in prison for writing on his website that three Chicago judges who upheld a handgun ban “deserved to be killed.” Turner spent 28 months in prison and more than four months in a halfway house.
This week the U.S. Supreme Court justices will discuss whether to consider overturning Turner’s conviction, according to an article on NJ.com.
The article cites court documents alleging that in addition to his comments that the judges deserved to be killed, Turner wrote that “Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit court didn’t get the hint after those killings,” referring to the 2005 murders of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow’s husband and mother.
U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. argued that Turner’s comments constituted an express threat against the three judges.
Turner claimed that his conviction violated his First Amendment rights. “I uttered a nasty opinion and got thrown in prison for it,” he is quoted as saying. “This goes directly to freedom of speech and the citizen’s ability to criticize public officials.”
After his conviction was upheld in federal appeals court in 2010, Turner filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. The justices will review several petitions this week to determine which cases will be heard in court.
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