William A. White, Avowed Neo-Nazi, Convicted of Threatening Matthew Hale Juror

CHICAGO (CBS/AP) William A. White, an avowed neo-Nazi who ran a blog that prosecutors said regularly called for people to "be killed, lynched, shot and beaten" could face up to 10 years in prison after a Chicago jury convicted him of encouraging violence against the foreman of a jury in the 2004 trial of a white supremacist.

The one-time jury foreman who White was accused of targeting sat on a spectators' bench in the courtroom, leaned forward and cried after the guilty verdict was read. White, a native of Roanoke, Va., turned to his attorneys and shook his head in disappointment.

During the three-day trial, prosecutors claimed that White's threats against the juror, identified in court records only as Juror A, struck at the heart of the U.S. justice system.

"It is critical to our system of justice that jurors and judges alike must be free to perform their duties without living in fear," Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a statement after the verdict.

The jury on which the victim served in 2004 convicted white supremacist Matthew Hale for soliciting the murder of a federal judge. Four years later, White wrote about the foreman in a posting entitled, "The Juror Who Convicted Matt Hale."

Prosecutors told jurors that White threatened the foreman by posting the man's name, photograph, address, cell phone number, sexual orientation and even his cat's name on his neo-Nazi website. Defense attorneys argued it was protected free speech.

White's defense attorneys argued that White's blog was protected by the first amendment and that he never outright called for anyone to harm Juror A.

"If the government doesn't like your views, they're going to come after you," defense attorney Nishay Sanan told reporters Wednesday. "It's a sad day for the First Amendment."

But prosecutors countered that argument by asking the jurors to consider "the whole context... [White] argued for people to be killed, lynched, shot and beaten" on his blog, trial prosecutor William Hogan told reporters. In fact White is currently serving a 2 1/2 year prison sentence in a separate case in Virginia on a 2009 conviction for using his website, e-mail and telephone to harass strangers.

Additionally, White's website, drew national attention in 2008 when it featured an article about a possible assassination of then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

A sentencing hearing for White hasn't been set.