Leader of neo-Nazi group jailed on suspicion of making threats

(left) Bill White, leader of a neo-Nazi group.
photograph by Casey Templeton for The New York Times

By Gillian Arndt


Bill White, the leader of a neo-Nazi group, was jailed on “suspicion of making threats against a juror who was on a panel in 2004 that convicted a white supremacist of plotting to kill a federal judge” according to The New York Times.

Mr. White’s Web site went down last month. On Friday, The Roanoke Times reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had seized his computer equipment as part of the investigation that led to his arrest.

According to The Roanoke Times, Federal authorities have been investigating White's online ranting for more than a year now.

The only charge against White so far comes from a federal grand jury in Chicago. Last week, White was indicted on a charge of encouraging violence against the foreman of a jury that in 2004 convicted a fellow white supremacist of soliciting the murder of a Chicago judge.

"Even if it's not a threat, if it does cause a clear and present danger to the operation of the judicial system ... then that kind of speech can be proscribed," said Wat Hopkins, a communications law professor at Virginia Tech to The Roanoke Times.

"It is a very interesting legal issue as to whether the language used in this case constitutes a true threat," Judge Michael Urbanski said to The Roanoke Times.