Harold C. “Hal” Turner, a former FBI informant and current Internet shock jock, has received a 33 month prison sentence because of comments that were made on his ultra right wing Internet blog in early 2009, according to a New York Criminal Lawyer.
Mr. Turner defended his position as a major media figure by stating that his angry blog rant, in which he wrote that three circuit court judges “deserve to be killed” for their ruling in favor of upholding handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park, Il, was purely protected under the right to free speech and was never intended to cause harm or invoke a sense of danger to those judges, a New York Criminal Lawyer reported.
Turner maintained that, though his comments in regards to his position may have been extreme and even “disgusting” to some individuals, his large and highly opinionated fan base has come to expect and respect his extremist political stance and that he was being erroneously attacked and labeled, according to the New York Criminal Lawyer. Turner also professed his love for the United States of America and used his past history as an FBI informant to strengthen his loyalty to the US, and was said to imply that his opinions and his actions have actually made the country a safer place.
Turner, who was arrested in June 2009, has spent more than eight months in jail, which will be applied to his sentence, after which he will be barred from participating in Internet radio or satellite radio programming for three years , reports said. Turner is filing an appeal against the courts ruling.
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