Federal Judge's Husband & Mother Murdered - Chicago

[Guest]

This is horrible and eye-opening news. Most times, we forget that we have strong home-grown terrorist groups, Americans just like the rest of us. We can't keep our guard down against these "white supremacists" anti-authority movements.

My thoughts and prayers go to U.S.District Judge Joan Lefkow in her terrible ordeal. Stay strong Judge!!!!!!

Federal judge finds 2 bodies in her home

Jurist was once targeted by white supremacist

(CNN) -- A federal judge who was once targeted for death by a white supremacist leader found two people dead inside her Chicago home when she returned Monday evening, police said.

U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow found the bodies about 6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET), police spokesman Pat Camden said.

Local media reports said the victims were Lefkow's husband, attorney Michael F. Lefkow, and her mother, Donna Humphrey, 89.

Police offered no details.

In April 2004, white supremacist Matthew Hale was found guilty on charges that he tried to arrange Lefkow's murder. The judge, presiding over a trademark infringement suit, had ordered Hale's group to stop using the name World Church of the Creator, which belonged to another religious group with no ties to Hale.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 6.

After his conviction, the FBI sent an advisory to police agencies nationwide, warning about possible violence from Hale sympathizers, after an openly racist Web site posted the home address and phone number of an FBI informant who testified against him during the trial.

Law enforcement officials said the Web site had incorrectly identified the informant, posting the name and address of another man with the same name who had nothing to do with the case.

[Guest]

March 1, 2005

2 Bodies Found at Residence of U.S. Judge

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  

Filed at 6:12 a.m. ET

CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal judge, who was once the target of a failed murder plot by a white supremacist, returned home from work to find two bodies inside her home.

U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow on Monday stumbled across the bodies of her husband, attorney Michael F. Lefkow, and her mother, Donna Humphrey, 89, who was visiting from Denver, according to Tuesday's editions of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.

Authorities gave no indication whether the two deaths were related to Judge Lefkow's involvement in the case of an Illinois white supremacist who was convicted last year of soliciting an undercover FBI informant to kill her.

Michael Lefkow, 64, and Humphrey were each shot in the head, according to the Tribune, which cited unnamed sources. No weapon was found but authorities did recover two .22 caliber casings, the newspaper reported.

Members of a Chicago police forensics team could be seen inside the two-story Lefkow home wearing white clothing and surgical-style headgear late Monday evening.

FBI spokesman Ross Rice confirmed that agents had been called in to help with the investigation but provided no further details. Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said he would have no comment.

The Lefkows, whose home is on a tree-lined street, were active in the Episcopal church.

``This is a real shock. I'm really saddened and outraged. I hope the people responsible will be apprehended soon,'' said William Persell, bishop of the Chicago Diocese of the Episcopal Church.

Neighbors described the Lefkows as a model family. ``This is someone who adored his daughters,'' Nan Sullivan said. ``They were the kind of family everyone aspires to be, very close-knit, very supportive.''

Lefkow received police protection after white supremacist Matthew Hale was arrested in 2003. Prosecutors alleged that he was angry after Lefkow ruled that he could no longer use the name World Church of the Creator for his group because another organization had a copyright on that name.

Hale, 33, is currently awaiting sentencing.

Hale's conviction came almost five years after he first attracted national attention when a follower, Benjamin Smith, went on a deadly shooting rampage, targeting minorities in Illinois and Indiana.

Hale's reaction to Smith's three-day shooting spree -- Hale laughed about it and imitated gunfire in secretly recorded tapes played for the jury -- was part of the prosecution's case. Smith killed two people and wounded nine others before killing himself in July 1999 as police closed in.

Hale never testified during his two-week trial. His defense attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin, called no witnesses, saying the prosecution's evidence was the weakest he had seen in a major case. The defense argued that Hale never asked anyone to kill the judge.

Lefkow, 61, served as a federal magistrate and a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge before President Clinton nominated her for the District Court bench in 2000.

Michael Lefkow was a graduate of North Central College in Naperville and earned a law degree from Northwestern University. The two married in 1975, and he ran unsuccessfully for Cook County judge in 2002, according the Tribune.