White supremacist convicted of soliciting attack on jury foreman

White supremacist convicted of soliciting attack on jury foreman

CHICAGO — A 35-year-old self-avowed white supremacist convicted of soliciting an attack on a jury foreman who served on a federal trial in Chicago was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison today at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.

William White, found guilty in 2011 of one count of solicitation, targeted the juror on his website, overthrow.com, because he had served as foreman on the jury that convicted downstate white supremacist Matthew Hale of soliciting the murder of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow after she ruled against him in a trademark-infringement case.

In a 2008 posting, White, of Roanoke, Va., named the foreman as the “gay Jewish anti-racist” juror who had helped convict Hale, and also made references to his longtime partner. He then splashed personal details about the juror — who is not Jewish — on the website, including his color photo, home address, phone numbers and even his cat’s name.

Before U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman sentenced him, White apologized to the courtroom for “communicating in a way that was subject to misunderstanding,” but stopped short of saying his actions were hateful or racist. Upon his eventual release, White said he planned to “live quietly, write, raise my daughter and obey the law.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ferrara argued for White to serve five years, saying there was a compelling need to protect federal jurors. If not, the “federal jury system would collapse,” he said.

Adelman, brought in from Milwaukee to preside over the trial, said White’s sentence needed to “promote respect for the law” and protect the public — in this case, jurors.