CHICAGO (AP)– Matthew Hale, the whitesupremacist convicted last year of plotting to assassinate a federal judge, wassentenced to 40 years in prison after a rambling, two-hour speech in which heclaimed he was the victim.
“I have togo back to a solitary cell — I have to go back to hell,” Hale told the judge,hoping for leniency. “They want me to die in a hole.”
U.S.District Judge James Moody was unmoved. He gave Hale the maximum sentence forobstructing justice and soliciting an FBI informant to murder U.S. DistrictJudge Joan Humphrey Lefkow — the same judge whose husband and mother weremurdered five weeks ago by a deranged man with no connection to Hale.
Lefkow hadruled against the white supremacist in a trademark dispute.
Hale, the33-year-old leader of a group that preaches racial holy war, showed no emotionand sat staring at the defense table as he was sentenced.
Prosecutorsargued for the maximum sentence, saying Hale’s crime amounted to an act ofterrorism, and the judge agreed.
“Mr. Hale isnot concerned about taking someone’s life, but rather how to do it withoutgetting caught,” Moody said. “I consider Mr. Hale to be extremely dangerous andthe offense for which he was convicted to be extremely egregious.”
Prosecutorssaid Hale was furious that Lefkow had ordered him to stop using the WorldChurch of the Creator name for his group. Lefkow said the name was trademarkedby an Oregon-based church group.
