40 years for muder plot white supremacist

A white supremacist was jailed for 40 years today after plotting to have a US judge murdered.

Matthew Hale, 33, the leader of a group that preaches racial holy war, was convicted of soliciting an undercover FBI informant to kill federal judge Joan Lefkow.

Passing sentence at a Chicago court, Judge James Moody said Hale was not concerned about taking someone’s life, but rather how to do it without being caught.

“I consider Mr Hale to be extremely dangerous and the offence for which he was convicted to be extremely egregious,” he said.

Prosecutors alleged Hale was angry after Judge Lefkow ruled that he could no longer use the name World Church of the Creator for his group because another organisation had a copyright on that name.

Hale never testified during his two-week trial last April. His lawyer called no witnesses, claiming the prosecution’s evidence was the weakest he had seen in a major case.

A key witness, Anthony Evola, testified that he secretly taped Hale for the FBI while posing as a follower. Among the conversations were ones in which they discussed the judge.

Evola could be heard asking Hale: “Are we gonna exterminate the rat?” before Hale responded: “I’m going to fight within the law and, but ... if you wish to, ah, do anything, yourself, you can.”

Judge Lefkow’s husband and mother were killed last month and police admitted they were investigating possible links to hate groups.

But a 57-year-old man who committed suicide last month left a note claiming responsibility for the murders, blaming Judge Lefkow for ruining his life by dismissing a lawsuit.