ChasingBlueSky 0 #1 March 1, 2005 Just incredible.... http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-judge01.html Judge's husband, mother slain March 1, 2005 BY ABDON M. PALLASCH, FRANK MAIN AND LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporters Federal Judge Joan Lefkow arrived home from work Monday to find her husband and her mother dead in a basement study of her Edgewater home. Labor lawyer Michael Lefkow and the judge's 89-year-old mother, Donna Humphrey, visiting from Denver, were found in a pool of blood, sources said. It was unclear how they died. Police found no initial signs of forced entry. A special police detail had been assigned to Lefkow's home since white supremacist Matt Hale threatened her life two years ago. Hale has been incarcerated at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center since Jan. 8, 2003, under tight control, usually reserved for terrorists, to keep him from sending out violent edicts from prison. His only contacts with the outside world are twice-a-month visits from his parents, who are allowed to spend one hour each with him as two FBI agents listen in, said Hale's father, Russell Hale. Police have not identified Hale or anyone from his World Church of the Creator as a suspect in the killings. But on Monday night, with just a few key strokes, reporters found anti-Semitic Web sites carrying detailed descriptions of Lefkow's family, including her husband. Followers alleged a conspiracy Chicago Police, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals office were at the home investigating Monday night as family, friends and federal judges stopped in to console the family. Lefkow, a federal judge since 1982, presided over a trademark lawsuit an Oregon church filed against Hale and his group. At first, the judge ruled for Hale. She had to change her decision after the appellate court reversed her. Hale responded in a press release: "There is only so much we as a Church can endure before a minister can no longer look the people in the eye with a straight face preaching legality when an individual like Judge Lefkow indulges in unbridled terrorism against people who simply want to practice their religion." Hale later wrote next to Lefkow's name: "PROBABLE JEW OR MARRIED TO A JEW." Neither the judge nor her husband is Jewish. Both are active in the Episcopal Church. "Michael [Lefkow] served as the secretary of the standing committee of the diocese," said William Persell, bishop of the Chicago Diocese of the Episcopal Church. "This is a real shock. I'm really saddened and outraged. I hope the people responsible will be apprehended soon. It's a great loss to the church, to the family, to the community if that's the way we treat one another when we disagree." 'Consider it done' Hale was convicted on April 26, 2004, of soliciting the judge's murder and obstructing justice. Among the more damning evidence against him at trial was an e-mail he sent to his chief of security asking for Lefkow's home address. The chief, Anthony Evola, was secretly working for the FBI as an informant and recorded a conversation with Hale. "We gonna exterminate the rat?" Evola asked, referring to the judge. "Ah, my position's always been that . . . I'm gonna fight within the law and but, ah, that information's been provided," Hale said. "If you wish to, ah, do anything yourself, you can, you know? "So that makes it clear?" Hale asked. "Consider it done," Evola said. "Good," Hale said. Sources said those involved in prosecuting Hale's case were being alerted of possible violence -- including two assistant U.S. attorneys and Indiana U.S. District Judge James Moody, who presided over Hale's trial. "They're looking at everybody right now who needs to be protected," the source said. Waco anniversary Friends and neighbors described the Lefkows as a model, loving family. Joan Lefkow grew up in rural Kansas attending a one-room schoolhouse. She met Michael when she was a student at Wheaton College and he used the school's library for research. They worked together in legal aid clinics. They raised four daughters, the youngest still in high school. "This is someone who adored his daughters," said Nan Sullivan. "They were the kind of family everyone aspires to be, very close-knit, very supportive." Michael Lefkow drew up a constitution spelling out the rules and rights his daughters had in the home. He left his office in the Monadnock Building every day and stopped at federal court to pick up his wife to drive home together. Hand-in-hand they took nightly strolls through the Lakewood-Balmoral neighborhood where they have lived for 20 years. Michael Lefkow ran for judge three years ago. He recently sported crutches because of an ankle injury. Among the snippets from church bulletins Hale's fans posted on their white supremacist Web sites: "Michael and Joan lived in Spain at one point in their life, explaining why foreign travel is on his list of interests, which also includes the opera, reading, and jogging. He is also known to sing a few tunes and engage in a bit of flamenco dancing. Friends say he always is seen in a tie . . . and then there's the signature [fedora] hat." A neighbor who lives across the street from the Lefkows on the 5200 block of North Lakewood said about 6:25 p.m. Monday she saw one of the judge's daughters crying hysterically as she was escorted down the steps of the home by a police officer. She climbed into the car of a friend, but soon after got out and started pacing around, still sobbing. Monday was the 12th anniversary of the U.S. government's raid on the David Koresh compound at Waco, Texas, a cause celebre for radical militia groups "We know the police will look strongly [for] an extremist connection in this case," said Adam Schupack of the Anti-Defamation League. "While Matt Hale's 'Creativity' movement has largely fallen apart, we know that he still has followers who are out there and who are potentially violent."_________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
