40 Years for Plot to Murder Judge

Matthew Hale, the white supremacist who conspired to kill federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow and was initially a suspect in the murder of her mother and husband, was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison.

In a voice that was sometimes tear-choked and sometimes venomous, Hale, 33, spent two hours defending himself to U.S. District Judge James Moody.

His rambling speech contained references to Thomas Jefferson, compared the FBI to the Gestapo and ended with a recitation of part of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

Several times Hale, who was surrounded by federal marshals, turned to mock prosecutors and glower at FBI officials nearby.

“They’re liars,” he said, staring at several lawyers sitting at the prosecution table. “I should be home right now. I should be apologized to right now.”

But when Moody handed down the sentence, Hale was silent, his face blank. He sat at the defense table, staring at his clasped hands.

“Mr. Hale is not concerned about taking someone’s life, but rather how to do it without getting caught,” Moody said, calling Hale’s crime an act of terrorism. “I consider Mr. Hale to be extremely dangerous, and the offense for which he was convicted to be extremely egregious.”

In April 2004, Hale was convicted of soliciting his security chief to kill Lefkow, 61. The U.S. district judge in 2002 had ordered Hale’s group, the World Church of the Creator, to stop using the name on its website and in all printed material following a trademark dispute.

Last month, Lefkow’s mother and husband were shot to death inside their Chicago home.

Investigators initially suspected Hale -- who was in prison at the time -- might have been involved. But Bart Allan Ross, whom Lefkow had ruled against in a lawsuit over his cancer treatment, days later committed suicide and left a note behind that confessed to the slayings.

When Hale mentioned the murders Wednesday, Moody cut him off. Hale then said the judge was limiting his speech because he already had made up his mind about the sentence he would impose.

Moody responded that he was still weighing the issues; “I’m listening very closely to every word,” the judge said.

Hale’s conviction hinged on a tape recording that Anthony Evola, his security chief turned FBI informant, made in December 2002. On it, Hale was reminded that he had asked for Lefkow’s home address.

Hale reportedly said the information was gathered “for educational purposes and for whatever reason you wish it to be.”

Also on the tape, Evola asked, “Are we gonna exterminate the rat?” Prosecutors said Evola was referring to Lefkow.

“Well, whatever you want to do, basically,” Hale answered.

A few minutes later, Hale said: “My position has always been that, you know, I’m going to fight within the law and, but, uh [her home address has] been provided if you wish to, uh, do anything yourself, you can.... So that makes it clear.”

Evola responded: “Consider it done.”

“Good,” Hale said.

Hale said Wednesday that he was not speaking on the tape about Lefkow, but about a lawyer in the trademark dispute.

He spent much of his time before Moody talking about how he had been wronged: The media had smeared him, he said, and the federal government had framed him. His former lawyer, he said, had poorly represented him.

At one point, Hale described his love of the law. A graduate of Southern Illinois University law school, Hale said he believed himself to be an officer of the court despite the fact that he had been denied a law license.

Throughout Hale’s speech, his parents and several white supremacist supporters sat together in the crowded court.

Russell Hale, his father, spent most of the morning staring at the ground, occasionally glancing up at his son with an anguished expression.

“This is destroying our family,” Russell Hale said before the sentencing hearing.

Hate group experts said that the 40-year sentence sent a strong message that threats against judges were taken seriously.

“While individuals like this may seem comical or downright oafish, they do pose a very significant threat,” said Devin Burghart of the Center for New Community, an organization in suburban Chicago that monitors hate groups.

An organization of federal judges asked Congress on Wednesday to offer them better protection, including security systems in most of their homes, in the wake of the Lefkow murders, a courtroom shooting rampage in Atlanta last month and recent criticism of the judges who refused to order Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube be reinserted.

“Unfortunately, at the present time, federal judges across the country are feeling particularly vulnerable, not only for themselves, but also for their families,” said a letter from the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policy-making board headed by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.