White supremacists probed after murder of judge's family

Police are investigating whether the murders of a US judge’s husband and her frail 89-year-old mother were the work of white supremacists out for revenge.

The Chicago killings came a month before white supremacist Matt Hale is scheduled to be sentenced for trying to have the judge, Joan Lefkow, killed over her handling of a trademark dispute involving his hate group.

Police said they were looking at the possibility the crime was committed by hate groups but cautioned that it was ”but one facet of our investigation”.

James Molloy, Chicago’s chief of detectives, said: “There is much speculation about possible links between this crime and the possible involvement of hate groups. We are looking in many, many directions, but it would be far too early to draw any definitive links,” said

The judge and other members of her family were placed under federal protection after the killings.

The judge discovered the bodies of her husband, Michael Lefkow, 64, a lawyer, and her mother, Donna Humphrey, in the basement of their home when she returned from work.

Hale’s father, retired policeman Russell Hale, dismissed the notion that his son may have been involved in the killings, saying he is under constant surveillance by authorities.

“There would be no way he could order anything,” Hale said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Hale is being held at a Chicago detention centre where he is isolated from other prisoners.

When attorneys visit, he must be escorted to the meeting in handcuffs by three guards.

During Hale’s murder-plot trial, prosecutors contended that he was furious when Judge Lefkow ordered him to stop using the name World Church of the Creator because it had been trademarked by an Oregon religious group that has no ties to Hale.

Hale, 33, is awaiting sentencing for the murder plot.

As recently as last year, the FBI took the murder plot seriously enough that they provided judge Lefkow with protection for at least a few weeks and Chicago police stepped up patrols of her neighbourhood.

The Lefkows took their own security measures, installing cameras on their front porch, said Mike Miner, a long-time friend.