ROGUE AMERICAN EDITORIALIST AND FORMER FBI ASSET http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_%28intelligence%29 REIGNED IN BY THE FEDS! PERSECUTORS SEEK TO TRY HIM UNTIL CONVICTION GAINED, NOT UNLIKE GOTTI JR.! SO MUCH FOR THE FIRST AMMENDMENT AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
Prosecutors ask to exclude ties to FBI in retrial of N.J. blogger accused of threatening judges
Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to ban right-wing blogger Hal Turner from revealing to a jury he was an FBI informant in a retrial for allegedly threatening three federal judges in Chicago, a report in NorthJersey.com said.
Prosecutors said allowing argument about his status as an informant would just distract the jury, but his defense said he was trained to make statements similar to the ones charged as a threat in the case, according to the report. A judge declared a mistrial last December in the case against the New Jersey blogger. Prosecutors had argued that Turner knew his Internet tirade, which insisted the judges "deserved to be killed," could provoke violence by members of his radical audience. The defense likened Turner to a "shock jock" and argued he was expressing an opinion protected by the First Amendment.
Prosecutors said allowing argument about his status as an informant would just distract the jury, but his defense said he was trained to make statements similar to the ones charged as a threat in the case, according to the report. A judge declared a mistrial last December in the case against the New Jersey blogger. Prosecutors had argued that Turner knew his Internet tirade, which insisted the judges "deserved to be killed," could provoke violence by members of his radical audience. The defense likened Turner to a "shock jock" and argued he was expressing an opinion protected by the First Amendment.
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Prosecutors want to bar North Bergen shock jock Hal Turner's role as informant in new trial
Federal prosecutors are seeking to bar ultra-right wing shock jock Hal Turner from revealing his longtime role as a FBI informant to a jury when he is retried next month for allegedly threatening three appeals court judges from Chicago.
Prosecutors want U.S. District Judge Donald Walter to preclude Turner’s lawyers from referring to his background as a confidential source for the FBI unless they plan to present evidence, which they contend “can only come from the testimony of the defendant himself.”
Otherwise, they say in motion papers, “allowing argument or questioning of the government’s witnesses about [Turner’s] status as an informant is nothing but an irrelevant sideshow designed to distract and confuse the jury.”
The North Bergen resident’s first trial ended in a mistrial Dec. 7 after the jury reported it was hopelessly deadlocked.
Walter set March 1 as a new trial date for Turner, who faces a single count of unlawfully threatening three Chicago-based federal appeals judges after writing on his blog last June that they “deserved to be killed” for upholding a gun control ordinance.
Before the first trial, the government filed a similar motion arguing there was no evidence in Turner’s FBI file to support his “oft-repeated allegation that he had been ‘schooled’ by the FBI … to make statements similar to the one charged as a threat in this case, and that there were no FBI personnel who could or would testify that defendant was ever authorized to threaten any public official, let alone to do so on June 2 and June 3, 2009, two years after he had been terminated as an informant.”
Walter reserved decision before the first trial got underway in Brooklyn and Turner’s lawyers later argued he was a highly-regarded source who was entrusted to gather information on white supremacist movements at home and abroad, and was not guilty because the FBI taught him what he could and could not say.
When the government attempted to present evidence to rebut the defense’s claims, the judge ruled such evidence was inadmissible because Turner presented no evidence that he was trained to threaten public figures, prosecutors said in court papers.
The Record reported in November that Turner, 47, was recruited by FBI counter-terrorism agents in 2003 and paid thousands of dollars to travel to rallies, conferences and other meetings of the Aryan Nation, the National Alliance, and other ultra-right-wing groups. In 2005, Turner went to Brazil and reported on a possible $1 million donation by white supremacists there to their American counterparts.
The FBI ended its covert relationship with Turner in mid 2007 citing an inability to control what he said on the air or wrote on his blog, FBI records show. But, records show, Turner continued to supply tips and other information to the FBI and other agencies until only weeks before his arrest last June.
E-mail: sampson@northjersey.com
Otherwise, they say in motion papers, “allowing argument or questioning of the government’s witnesses about [Turner’s] status as an informant is nothing but an irrelevant sideshow designed to distract and confuse the jury.”
The North Bergen resident’s first trial ended in a mistrial Dec. 7 after the jury reported it was hopelessly deadlocked.
Walter set March 1 as a new trial date for Turner, who faces a single count of unlawfully threatening three Chicago-based federal appeals judges after writing on his blog last June that they “deserved to be killed” for upholding a gun control ordinance.
Before the first trial, the government filed a similar motion arguing there was no evidence in Turner’s FBI file to support his “oft-repeated allegation that he had been ‘schooled’ by the FBI … to make statements similar to the one charged as a threat in this case, and that there were no FBI personnel who could or would testify that defendant was ever authorized to threaten any public official, let alone to do so on June 2 and June 3, 2009, two years after he had been terminated as an informant.”
Walter reserved decision before the first trial got underway in Brooklyn and Turner’s lawyers later argued he was a highly-regarded source who was entrusted to gather information on white supremacist movements at home and abroad, and was not guilty because the FBI taught him what he could and could not say.
When the government attempted to present evidence to rebut the defense’s claims, the judge ruled such evidence was inadmissible because Turner presented no evidence that he was trained to threaten public figures, prosecutors said in court papers.
The Record reported in November that Turner, 47, was recruited by FBI counter-terrorism agents in 2003 and paid thousands of dollars to travel to rallies, conferences and other meetings of the Aryan Nation, the National Alliance, and other ultra-right-wing groups. In 2005, Turner went to Brazil and reported on a possible $1 million donation by white supremacists there to their American counterparts.
The FBI ended its covert relationship with Turner in mid 2007 citing an inability to control what he said on the air or wrote on his blog, FBI records show. But, records show, Turner continued to supply tips and other information to the FBI and other agencies until only weeks before his arrest last June.
E-mail: sampson@northjersey.com
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