U.S. v. White

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendant’s Rule 29 motion for acquittal on charge of solicitation to commit violent federal crime against juror who participated in trial that resulted in conviction of Matt Hale, where instant trial concerned defendant’s posting on website that advocated advancement of white supremacy message that everyone associated with Matt Hale trial “deserved assassination,” as well as his publication of home address and phone numbers in posting that others used to contact juror who had participated in Hale’s trial. While Dist. Ct. found that jury’s guilty verdict could not stand since defendant’s web postings were not objective criminal solicitations and thus constituted protected speech under First Amendment, Ct. of Appeals held that reasonable juror could have found that defendant’s postings constituted proposal to engage in unlawful activity, and that defendant was aware that his postings might induce readers to commit violent acts against juror mentioned in postings. Moreover, because criminal solicitation is not protected by First Amendment, govt. was entitled to reinstatement of guilty verdict.