Former neo-Nazi leader gets 3 more months in prison
/A federal judge gave former neo-Nazi leader William A. White an additional three months in prison today.
The resentencing stemmed from a federal appeals court ruling that took into account the young age of some of the people targeted by White's inflammatory rhetoric.
"When I used this harsh language 5 ½ years ago, I did not intend to break the law," White told Judge James Turk. White said he believed the language was covered by the First Amendment.
He was resentenced this morning during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.
After White had completed a 2½-year prison term for making racially charged threats, a federal appeals court ruled in May that Turk did not properly follow sentencing guidelines.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back for a new sentencing, with the possibility of a slightly longer term once Turk takes into account the age of some of White’s victims.
Among other things, White was convicted in 2009 of sending intimidating letters to tenants of a Virginia Beach apartment complex who filed a housing discrimination against their white landlord.
The letters, addressed to "Whiney Section 8 ... , called them dirty parasites and warned that the white community’s "patience with you and the government that coddles you runs thin."
Because at least one of the tenants had young children, the appeals court ruled, Turk should have considered giving White an enhanced sentence for targeting especially vulnerable victims.
Today’s hearing marks the second time in as many months that White has been back in court facing additional prison time.
In September, Turk gave him 10 months for violating his supervised release by fleeing to Mexico.
White, who once ran a Roanoke-based hate group called the American National Socialist Workers Party, gained brief national attention for posting incendiary racial comments on his now-defunct website, overthrow.com.
Since his conviction in December 2009, White’s website and his organization have all but vanished.
White, 35, is currently being held in the Roanoke City Jail.
