The VLW Blog

Ruling that communications to others urging the death of a civil rights lawyer could not be considered a “true threat,” a Roanoke federal judge has dismissed one of the convictions of neo-Nazi William A. White. Three other convictions of threats or intimidation were upheld by Senior U.S. District Judge James C. Turk.
White, a Roanoke landlord [...]

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Roanoke neo-Nazi Bill White has been convicted by a jury of four of seven federal charges of making threats, reports WDBJ .
Although various alleged victims testified they were in fear of their lives from White’s menacing messages, White’s lawyers argued his comments were protected by the First Amendment.  White was acquitted of similar charges in [...]

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William A. White should remain in jail pending trial, according to a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Roanoke publisher of a neo-Nazi Web site is accused of threatening people by e-mail and Web posts.  The Roanoke Times reports the appeals panel reversed U.S. District Judge James Turk, who approved bond in [...]

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A Buchanan County news reporter is trying to convince a jury that county school leaders improperly banned him from school property because they didn’t like his stories.
Earl Cole, publisher of The Voice, claims that the school board defamed him and violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, reports the Bristol Herald-Courier.
The Buchanan [...]

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An assertion that a Marine was killed in Iraq as punishment for the tolerance of the United States for homosexuality was repugnant, but it could not be the basis for a $5 million judgment, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today.
U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett in Baltimore had ruled that the First [...]

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A blogger arrested for posting a police officer’s address will get some help from the ACLU of Virginia.
The group says it will defend Elisha Strom, a Bedford County woman who is charged under a state law that makes it a felony to publish a police officer’s address “with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass.”
As [...]

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A Lynchburg police officer says he got a tongue lashing from the city manager after he spoke out as a citizen at a public hearing on budget issues. Now, the officer is suing for $500,000, saying the manager’s tirade - which the officer secretly recorded - was unconstitutional retaliation for speech protected by the [...]

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A Chicago federal judge today dismissed charges of threatening a juror, ruling that Web posts by a Roanoke neo-Nazi were protected by the First Amendment.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman held that merely publishing the address and other particulars about a juror was insufficient to support a case for solicitation of violence under the U.S. Code [...]

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A former Regent student suspended for mocking school founder Pat Robertson loses his free speech lawsuit against the university, reports the Associated Press.

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A Buchanan County woman passed over for a social services job has lost her suit against local officials, even though a federal appeals court holds it is unlawful to discriminate in hiring for that job on the basis of politics.
A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a published opinion released Friday, [...]

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