United States v. White

In September 2008, white supremacist William White (defendant) posted an article on his website Overthrow.com about a legal case involving another white supremacist, Matthew Hale. Hale had been convicted of soliciting the murder of a judge who presided over an earlier civil trial involving Hale’s religious organization. Hale later filed a motion to overturn his conviction arguing, among other theories, that he had ineffective legal counsel. Hale maintained that his attorney should have attempted to exclude a juror named Mark Hoffman, a gay man with a Black partner, who ultimately served as the jury foreperson. White posted the article on Overthrow.com in response to some media attention generated by Hale’s motion. In the article, White posted a photo of Hoffman; described him as a “gay Jewish anti-racist” who played a critical role in convicting Hale; and included Hoffman’s birthday, address, and phone numbers. As a result, Hoffman received harassing text messages and a phone call. Based on the article, the United States government (plaintiff) charged White under 18 U.S.C. § 373 with soliciting or endeavoring to persuade another person to injure Hoffman based on his jury service in the Hale case. White was convicted and thereafter filed a motion for judgment of acquittal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 29.