A neo-Nazi found guilty of  jury intimidation over a web post was released from custody this week after a federal judge reversed his conviction, a ruling his attorney said Thursday buttresses online free speech “no matter who says it.”

William A. White, the operator of now-defunct Overthrow.com, a website once affiliated with the white-supremacist American National Socialist Workers Party, was released from custody Wednesday, his attorney, Nishay Sanan, said in a telephone interview.

“This vindicates the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects popular and unpopular speech, no matter who says it,” Sanan said.

White was convicted in January of using the internet in 2008 to solicit “physical force” against a former jury foreman in a different white supremacist’s appeal. He was incarcerated at a Chicago jail pending the outcome of his petition to have his conviction set aside.

His crime: Among other things, White posted the name, address, picture and telephone numbers of one of the jurors who convicted white supremacist Matthew Hale. At the time, Hale was appealing his 480-month prison term for soliciting the murder of a federal judge.

White posted the juror’s information under the headline, “Hale Seeks to Have Sentence Overturned” with the sub header of “Gay Jewish Anti-Racist Led Jury.”

A federal judge tossed White’s indictment in 2008 on grounds that “it failed to allege a solicitation” for physical force to be used against the juror, and as “contrary to the First Amendment,” U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman wrote then.

A federal appeals court reinstated the indictment, (.pdf) ordering Adelman to hold a trial. After White was tried by an anonymous jury in January, he petitioned the judge to acquit him.

Adelman agreed, saying White’s posts “did not suggest or imply that anyone do anything” and that “I am convinced that no reasonable factfinder considering the posts and the context in which they were made could conclude, based on an objective standard, that they constitute a solicitation.” (.pdf)

Sanan expected the government to appeal Adelman’s decision. The government did not immediately respond for comment.

The former jury foreman testified that he began receiving text messages after White posted his information. The texts, he testified, said things like “sodomize Obama, Bomb China, kill McCain, cremated Jews, all these really upsetting things.”

He added that none of the texts threatened his life or said, “I’m coming to get you.”

Sanan said his client’s behavior was peanuts compared to Sarah Palin’s online antics. A so-called “hit list” of 20 politicians targeted with “rifle sights” graphics included Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona representative shot in January. The sarahpac.com site said, “Let’s take back the 20, together.”

“Sarah Palin had put her on a website with a scoped and target,” Sanan said, “and nobody was charged.”

Photo: dcwriterdawn/Flickr

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