BILL WHITE
A Roanoke-based neo-Nazi convicted of threatening people around the country learned Wednesday just how much time he'll serve.
Bill White will serve two and a half years in prison. He'll also have to complete three years of supervised release after his prison term.
DETAILS TO FOLLOW....
According to prosecutors, Bill White also made two children a target of his hate-filled rhetoric. If true, he deserves an enhanced sentence.
Neo-Nazi leader White to be sentenced today
Prosecutors say William A. White should be subject to enhanced punishment because he threatened children.
The leader of a Roanoke-based white supremacy group should receive an enhanced punishment -- between 57 and 71 months in prison -- in part because the people he threatened include two children, federal prosecutors say.
William A. White is scheduled to be sentenced today at 1:30 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.
A jury in December convicted White, the self-proclaimed leader of the American National Socialist Workers Party, of making threats by letters, e-mails, telephone calls and posts on a Web site that was the mouthpiece of his neo-Nazi group.
Defense attorney David Damico said he plans to ask that White be sentenced to the time he has already served while awaiting the resolution of his case, about 18 months.
White has argued, with some success, that his words should be protected by the First Amendment. Of eight charges brought by the federal government alleging threats and intimidation, five have been dismissed.
The neo-Nazi's victims -- all of them strangers who unwittingly said or did something to offend his racist views -- include a bank employee in Missouri, a university administrator in Delaware and several tenants of an apartment complex in Virginia Beach.
In court papers filed this week, prosecutors listed two additional victims: the 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son of Tasha Reddick, who angered White by filing a housing discrimination lawsuit against her landlord.
Although the lawsuit did not involve White, he inserted himself into the dispute in May 2007 after reading about it in the news.
White sent a letter to Reddick's children, identified in court papers as living with their mother, addressed to "Whiney Section 8 N----r."
After a rant about blacks on welfare, White's letter concluded: "You may get one over on your landlord this time, and you may not. But know that the white community has noticed you, and we know that you are and never will be anything more than a dirty parasite -- and that our patience with you and the government that coddles you runs thin."
Even though the two children did not read the letter, they were frightened by its effect on their mother, who moved them to a relative's home for a week and forbid them from walking to and from school, according to prosecutors.
White "deliberately targeted [the children] precisely because of their vulnerable status as minors and the increased apprehension that he would cause Tasha Reddick by targeting her children," prosecutors John Richmond and Cindy Chung wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Sentencing guidelines used in federal court allow for additional prison time if a defendant picks victims who are "unusually vulnerable" due to their age or mental or physical condition.
In calculating the guidelines for White, a probation officer came up with a sentencing range that is less than the one cited by prosecutors. Judge James Turk will rule on which application is correct at today's sentencing hearing.
White, a 32-year-old landlord and neo-Nazi advocate, has been in jail for all but five days since his arrest in October 2008. Because the guidelines are advisory, Turk could in theory give White anything from time served to the maximum of 35 years in prison.
Roanoke-based neo-Nazi to serve two and a half years in prisonµ
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=12310677
Bill White was convicted of three federal charges last December.A Roanoke-based neo-Nazi convicted of threatening people around the country learned Wednesday just how much time he'll serve.
Bill White will serve two and a half years in prison. He'll also have to complete three years of supervised release after his prison term. The judge did not give White a fine.
Bill White was convicted of three federal charges last December.
Stay with News7 and WDBJ7.com for the latest.
Thanks Joe. I am trying to find out if that is in addition to his time already served.
ReplyDeleteNeo-Nazi Bill White sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for hate speech
ReplyDeleteBy Laurence Hammack | The Roanoke Times
File 2005
William A. White addresses the media in Toledo, Ohio. City leaders canceled a scheduled Nazi march after this gathering.
Related
From today's paper
Neo-Nazi leader White to be sentenced today
U.S. v. William White
Read complete coverage from December's trial, as well as previous William White coverage
Bill White, a Roanoker branded America's "loudest and most obnoxious" neo-Nazi, was sentenced to 30 months in prison today for using his Web site, e-mail and the telephone to menace strangers.
The jail term locks away White, 32, for a period at the upper end of federal sentencing guidelines determined by U.S. District Judge James Turk. The judge said he rarely sentences defendants on the high side of guidelines, but did so because of the fear White instilled in many of his victims.
Turk told White that when he gets out of prison, "You can have any thoughts that you want to have, but you ought to keep them to yourself.
"I hope this will teach you a lesson, I really do," the judge told White, who declined a chance to speak at today's hearing.
Today’s sentencing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke follows a December trial in which White was convicted of threatening people in Missouri, Delaware and Virginia Beach.
White’s victims — strangers to him and to one another — unwittingly said or did something to anger a neo-Nazi activist, who then used his Web site, e-mail and the telephone to harass and threaten them.
For Citibank employee Jennifer Petsche, it was the way White’s credit card account was handled. For Tasha Reddick and Tiese Mitchell, it was the housing discrimination lawsuit they filed against their Virginia Beach landlord. For University of Delaware administrator Kathleen Kerr, it was a diversity awareness program at the school.
According to earlier testimony, White told a secretary in Kerr’s office that he was the leader of neo-Nazi group, that people who think the way she does about race should be shot, and that he would hunt her down.
White has claimed his words are protected by the First Amendment — a defense that proved successful with another five charges that were dismissed.
White moved to Roanoke in 2004 and began to buy and rent houses in the impoverished West End neighborhood. At about the same time, he became involved in the white supremacy movement, forming the American National Socialist Workers Party and declaring himself the commander.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors U.S. hate groups, has called White "possibly the loudest and most obnoxious neo-Nazi leader in America."
U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy has scheduled a news conference this afternoon to speak about White's sentence and "the importance of prosecuting civil rights cases," according to a statement from his office.
"I am trying to find out if that is in addition to his time already served."
ReplyDeleteDon't know, but, one thing seems to be sure: White isn't going to be around as a net nazi for a long time.
http://www2.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/roanoke_neo-nazi_to_be_sentenced_today/93304/
ReplyDeleteROANOKE - A federal judge sentenced self-proclaimed Roanoke Neo-Nazi Bill White to two-and-a-half years in prison, and three years of probation Wednesday afternoon.
White has already served 17 months of the 30 month sentence, and could get out early for good behavior in eight more months.
Timothy Heaphy, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, is set to hold a news conference on White’s sentencing at 4:00 p.m. I’ll be there, and bring you more information from what he has to say, tonight on WSLS at 5:00 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 6:00 p.m.
Thanks Joe. So he could get out in 8 months but with a 3 year tail that will restrict him pretty heavily. So...guess he will have to take up basket weaving or something.
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't found guilty of hate speech, exacttly, he was found guilty of speech that "instilled fear", which the Judge calls credible threats, but that's really twisting the definition of a credible threat. "Keep your thoughts to yourself". That's incredibly unAmerican.
ReplyDeleteUnless Bill suddenly found Jesus while in jail, I suspect he will simply keep his net-Nazi activities anonymous.
ReplyDeleteFuck Bill. Hope he gets ass raped every goddamn moment the cocksucker is in jail.
ReplyDelete