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Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Feb 28, 2005 at 07:13:39 PM EST
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Chicago Federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow returned home after work and found two bodies in her home.

Lefkow presided over a trademark case against Matt Hale, a white supremacist later convicted of trying to have the judge killed. Hale remains behind bars.

In 2003, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the denial of a law license for Hale. More details about Hale's attempt to have the Judge killed are here.

Hale was the leader of the former World Church of the Creator (now known as the Creativity Movement).

Update: The bodies have been identified as the Judge's husband and mother. The article says the Judge ruled in favor of Hale in the trademark case, but was reversed by the 7th Circuit. He is set to be sentenced for conspiracy to kill Judge Lefkow in April.

So it sounds like there were three cases: Hale's suit to get a license to practice law (he did graduate from law school) which Judge Lefkow ruled against him on and which ruling was upheld by the 7th Circuit; a trademark suit in which she ruled in his favor but was reversed by the 7th Circuit; and the criminal case of conspiring to kill her, for which sentencing is set in April.

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    • Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge | 23 comments (23 topical)
    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#1)
    by scarshapedstar on Mon Feb 28, 2005 at 07:30:24 PM EST
    Uh... what? I guess I can speculate as to the skin color of the bodies. Scary.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 28, 2005 at 09:01:41 PM EST
    Ugh. Still, we can't jump to conclusions, just because of the coincidence with Hale. Even though, it's true, he is a creep and a thug - I have had the misfortune of having to deal with him personally.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 28, 2005 at 09:20:18 PM EST
    Uh... what? I guess I can speculate as to the skin color of the bodies. Apparently, they were her mother and husband. Are we sure it was Hale? I get that he's violent and crazy, but I had the impression that he was careful to cover his @ss--and this strikes me as, among other things, reckless.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#4)
    by scarshapedstar on Mon Feb 28, 2005 at 09:34:12 PM EST
    Oh, man. The article didn't say anything about the victims so I assumed they were somewhat unrelated (family members are usually identified quickly?), although who kills random people to send a message? Scratch that observation.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 28, 2005 at 10:08:17 PM EST
    Anyone want to start a pool on when Law and Order will have a copycat (of course with no reference to actual cases)?

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 28, 2005 at 10:08:51 PM EST
    Did bush know the guy? or the judge? or the people who were killed? but i would think that this is understood.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 28, 2005 at 10:17:37 PM EST
    Scar SS--Near as I can tell, every news source outside of the Chicago area is using the same wire story--which lacks the mother-and-husband info. I'd make uncharitable remarks about the AP police reporter, but the guy probably got off his duff, actually went to the scene and talked to a cop. Doesn't sound like much, but you don't always see that sort of diligence in journalists.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#9)
    by Jlvngstn on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 07:08:24 AM EST
    This is a tragedy, I cannot imagine living through this. If it was a "hate group" responsible, should they be charged with terrorism? After all, it is terror defined... Great judge, horrible horrible people......

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 07:30:12 AM EST
    We can't rush to judgement, Not all muslims are terrorists. Oh, this is related to a white supremacist. Please rush to judgement.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#11)
    by nolo on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 07:35:54 AM EST
    I, too, agree that we should not rush to judgment. But the tendency to suspect white supremacists (and a particular white supremacist in this case) is not so speculative. After all, Matthew Hale was recently convicted of trying to solicit the murder of the judge -- a conviction for which he is now awaiting sentencing -- and isn't too repentant about it. So it's not quite the same leap of logic as, say, immediately blaming the Oklahoma bombing on Muslims was.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 08:13:47 AM EST
    BocaJeff--Out of 11 posts here, at least four (including yours) implicitly or directly point out that we don't know it was Hale, and only one outright assumed that it was him. The rest are neutral. Not exactly a "rush to judgement." Let me guess--you're a conservative.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#13)
    by Jlvngstn on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 08:15:01 AM EST
    If it was a "hate group"... What part of IF do you not understand Boca? If connotates speculation or in the event of or on the condition of. No rush to judgement, speculation. The problem is that since the judge was threatened by white supremacists the terror alert has not been raised, muslims are not being detained and the talk show hosts on fox are not making wild speculations as to Bin Ladens involvement. No judgement here, simply a question, "if it were a hate group" will they be charged with an act of terror?

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 08:21:04 AM EST
    And yesterday was the anniversary of Waco-Koresh. The local stories here in Chicago are a bit inconsistent....one says no signs of forced entry, while another says there was a broken window and other evidence of forced entry. The neighborhood, which is m ine as well, while gentrifying, is still rough around the edges. (And the judge and her family have lived in the neighborhood long before the gentrification.) That police district has reported a surprising number of homicides in the last 12 months, while the numbers in the rest of the city are decreasing. My point? While Hale and his "church" may be logical, immediate suspects, we can't rule out independent, sympathetic groups or even a home invasion/burglary gone really bad.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#15)
    by Che's Lounge on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 08:44:04 AM EST
    Is this a jury trial? Do the jurors know what has happened?

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 12:45:09 PM EST
    I'm glad to see that someone is willing to stand up for the religion of white supremacy, even if that someone has a really dorky screen-name.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 02:32:49 PM EST
    So it sounds like there were three cases: Hale's suit to get a license to practice law (he did graduate from law school) which Judge Lefkow ruled against him on and which ruling was upheld by the 7th Circuit

    Not so. Judge Darrah was the district court judge on that case, which is at 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4262.



    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 03:58:00 PM EST
    The Judge was a law school classmate of mine. She was/is kind, caring, and intelligent. My heart goes out to her. This is just horrible.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 02, 2005 at 12:51:55 AM EST
    This is about as horrible as it gets. But I'd be cautious about jumping on the "Hale did it" bandwagon. I remember all too well the white van everyone was looking for during sniper season. There's a lot of nuts out there, and it just seems too conveniently transparent.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#20)
    by Richard Aubrey on Wed Mar 02, 2005 at 06:13:16 PM EST
    Judges stick it to people every day worse than Hale got it with his copyright thing. Being forbidden a law license probably bites. Still, judges hammer folks worse than that--as they often should--without being killed. On the other hand, it doesn't take much to set some folks off. See Tyler, TX, recently. My guess is the judge had a biggish fan club. Hale's the one more than a few have heard of. The white van in DC is an interesting locution. Circumlocution. What you meant was the lone, angry, white male everybody was looking for. Desperately praying it would be. If this doesn't turn out to be Hale, a lot of folks are going to be disappointed. I saw some footage of the home. As one commenter put it, the neighborhood is still rough around the edges despite being gentrified. Maybe it was somebody who didn't like being gentrified out of his old 'hood.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 02, 2005 at 07:00:48 PM EST
    Ditto, Richard. Sometimes people glom onto preconceived notions and overlook something right in front of them. Another interesting aspect was that Muhammed and Malvo realized people were looking for a white van and started waiting for a white van to be present before opening fire. Hale could easily be a red herring -- intentional or unintentional. But as you point out, her list of enemies probably has a lot of people on it that have bigger motives than Hale.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#24)
    by pigwiggle on Thu Mar 03, 2005 at 07:46:01 AM EST
    In light of your views on vigilante judgment/justice; how about posting your address, Bubba?

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#26)
    by pigwiggle on Thu Mar 03, 2005 at 08:22:47 AM EST
    “I don't live off taxes” You’re kidding me, right? I can picture you now; no shoes, half full grill, Hamms in one hand, kettle cheese stained wife beater, whittling on the trailer porch.

    Re: Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 03, 2005 at 08:29:36 AM EST
    RA, if you paid attention to the DC sniper case, there were reports of a white van being present at the shootings which later turned out to be totally wrong. Why is that a circumlocution? Google the facts about something before you share your brilliant insight with us.

    Bodies Found in Home of Federal Judge | 23 comments (23 topical)