Blogger wants Conn. ‘take up arms’ charges tossed
HARTFORD, Conn. — When blogger Harold “Hal” Turner urged people to “take up arms” against Connecticut lawmakers two years ago, the comments were as harmless as baseball fans shouting, “Kill the umpire!” and Republican Sarah Palin using gun-scope crosshairs on a map targeting Democrats in congressional races, his lawyer said yesterday.
Turner’s public defender, John Stawicki, told a Hartford Superior Court judge that three state felony counts of inciting injury to a person should be dismissed, saying Turner was exercising his free-speech rights and didn’t intend for anyone to get hurt. Stawicki also argued that Connecticut courts don’t have jurisdiction because Turner posted the blog comments at his home in North Bergen, N.J.
Judge Carl Schuman didn’t rule yesterday but said he would make a decision as soon as possible. Turner is awaiting trial.
Turner, 49, is already serving a nearly three-year federal prison sentence for making death threats against federal judges in Illinois. He appeared in court yesterday unshaven and wearing a black suit and handcuffs, which the judge ordered marshals to remove for the hearing.
He was arrested by Connecticut Capitol police in June 2009 after he wrote on his blog that Catholics should “take up arms and put down this tyranny by force” and promised to post lawmakers’ addresses. He was angry over legislation that would have given lay members of Roman Catholic churches in the state more control over parish finances. The bill actually had been withdrawn three months before the post.
“It is our intent to foment direct action against these individuals personally,” Turner wrote. “These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die.”
Writing about police or prosecutors who may try to stop his cause, Turner wrote, “I suspect we have enough bullets to put them down too.”
Police said Turner’s specific targets were state Sen. Andrew McDonald, state Rep. Michael Lawlor and state ethics enforcement officer Thomas Jones. Lawlor filed the police complaint, and McDonald and Jones told officers they were worried about their safety. McDonald and Lawlor, who introduced the church finances bill, have since left the legislature and now work in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration.
Stawicki said Turner’s intention was to make people take notice of lawmakers’ actions, not to cause harm.
“He was expressing an intellectual view. He had a philosophical motive,” Stawicki said. “When Sarah Palin said some people should be put in the crosshairs, was it her intention that people be shot?”
Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, has been criticized for using gun-related images, including crosshairs of gun scopes imposed over Democrat-controlled congressional districts on a map she posted on her Facebook page before last year’s elections.
Stawicki also said it was a virtual certainty that Turner’s audience, Connecticut Catholics, wouldn’t resort to violence. He added that other radio and Internet personalities, like Rush Limbaugh, use inflammatory language to get their points across.
Prosecutor Thomas Garcia told the judge that it was Turner himself who wrote that his intent was to “foment direct action” against the lawmakers “personally.” He said Turner’s comments were potentially dangerous.
“In today’s day and age, with the number of unstable individuals out there, this is the kind of thing that can cause danger,” he said.
Garcia also said Palin’s comments and use of crosshairs were much different than Turner’s remarks, because Palin’s clearly are “political hyperbole.”
Turner is nearly a year into a 33-month federal prison sentence for making death threats against three federal judges in Illinois. Those comments were made as Turner protested a ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissing lawsuits that challenged handgun bans. He also claimed free-speech rights in that case, but was convicted by a jury after two previous trials ended with hung juries.
Also, in 2005, federal authorities questioned Turner after U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow found her mother and husband shot to death in her home in Chicago. Lefkow was targeted by a white supremacist who objected to her ruling in a trademark dispute. Turner said he became a focus because he had said on the air two years earlier that Lefkow “was worthy of being killed.”
In the Connecticut case, the three felony counts that Turner faces each carry one to 10 years in prison.
Tags: Associated Press, blogging, inciting, true threat
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Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer/First Amendment Center. Previously, Paulson served as editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today and USATODAY.com.
Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online.
John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values.
Dr. Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life.
David L. Hudson Jr. is a scholar at the First Amendment Center. Hudson writes for firstamendmentcenter.org and for other publications devoted to First Amendment issues.
Tiffany Villager is director/First Amendment studies at the First Amendment Center, which she joined in 1993. She also served as the center’s research manager and research coordinator, and developed the center’s library.
