United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, December 2010

“ Judges, for example, unlike the President of the United States, do not receive constant security protection. Congress also recognized the corrosive impact on judges from the use of threats of violence as a means to intimidate them into changing their positions. Judges, in order to uphold their oath and discharge their duties, must be able to go to work each day without fear as to the repercussions of their decisions to themselves or their families. ”

“ Turner made clear his desire to split from law enforcement in an email to a Deputy Marshal after Turner was terminated as an FBI source. Turner wrote: “there are things taking place in the country right now that cause me to believe that corrective measures may have to be
imposed upon the government. Those corrective measures would probably not be legal. One of the coolest things I came to know as I got older is that force and violence do not need to be legal in order to be effective and I perceive that the US is arriving at a point where effectiveness is more important than reality.” ”

“ No matter whether a threatener carries out an attack, his victim lives under a cloud of uncertainty as to whether or when the threatened violence will be meted out. Seldom do threat victims have the luxury of minimizing, much less eliminating, the risk of an attack. They must carry on with their lives, facing the grim possibility of a violent attack against themselves or their loved ones.1 1 There is also a practical and economic impact of threats of violence on the system. Threats directed at government officials and other public figures result in an expense to the public. ”

“ Threats to assault and murder federal judges cannot be tolerated under any circumstance. Here, however, because Turner disseminated his threat on the Internet, the crime was particularly egregious and difficult to contain. Neither the judges who were the targets of the postings nor the United States Marshal’s Service, which is tasked to protect them, could recognize a member of Turner’s Internet audience who could have heeded Turner’s words and choose to attack one of them. ”

“ Turner not only used violent language in his postings but he intentionally linked violent phrases and graphic images with the three judges themselves (“walk up to them and kill them”; “replenish the tree... [with] [t] heir blood”) in an unrelenting drum beat of words. Turner did not stop with criticizing the judges and their decision, or even generally proclaiming, in keeping with the extreme speech of other commentators on other subjects, that the individuals with whom he disagreed (the judges) should be killed as a result of their actions. ”

“ Turner also falsely denied in his testimony during the third trial that he sent Agent Haug text messages on July 28, 2010. Turner’s lies about the source of his knowledge of First Amendment law and the reason why he proclaimed publicly in 2005 that Judge Lefkow was “worthy of death” were relevant and material because Turner, in order to succeed with his defense, needed to convince the jury that the FBI taught him the limits of free speech and had in the past approved speech similar to that for which he was charged in the instant case. ”

“ The quantity of tobacco concealed in the photograph, for example, appears from a photograph to be roughly equivalent to that which could be obtained from two packs of cigarettes – the quantity that Turner requested that Family Member 3 send to Family Member 2. While there are several possible reasons why Turner abused the “legal mail” system to receive tobacco in jail, the fact of the incident demonstrates both
Turner’s disrespect for the law and his conniving way of violating rules with which he disagrees. In Turner’s world, some rules simply do not apply to him. 2. ”

“ The sole purpose of the references to Judge Lefkow’s slain family and to personal information about the three Seventh Circuit judges, and the only reason Turner
included them, was to intimidate the judges into changing their views as to gun control laws. Turner crossed the line between protected and unprotected speech by intentionally styling his June 2 and 3, 2009 postings as he did and, in doing so, he committed a crime. C. Section 115 (a) (1) (B) Is Necessary to Protect Judges From Threats of Violence and Efforts to Intimidate Them. ”