White supremacist guilty of murder plot

White supremacist leader Matthew Hale, whose gospel of "racial holy war" was linked to a follower's deadly shooting rampage five years ago, was found guilty Monday of trying to have a federal judge killed.

The defense argued that Hale never asked anyone to kill the judge and that the FBI used an informant to draw him into a murder plot.

During the trial, jurors heard more than a dozen tapes of Hale using racial slurs, including one in which he laughs about the 1999 shooting rampage by one of his followers, Benjamin Smith. Smith targeted minorities and killed two people, including former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong.

el - I am glad he is behind bars but did the FBI set him up? The only evidence I've seen is an FBI informant offering to kill the judge and Hale's replies: "Well, whatever you want to do, basically. My position has always been that, you know, I'm going to fight within the law and, but, ah, that information's been provided if you wish to, ah, do anything, yourself, you can. So that makes it clear."