• Boy, 12, guilty of murder in death of neo-Nazi dad

    Sandy Huffaker / AP file

    In this photo taken Oct. 22, 2010, Jeff Hall holds a neo-Nazi flag while standing at Sycamore Highlands Park near his home in Riverside, Calif.

    By Olsen Ebright, NBCLosAngeles.com

    A 12-year-old was found responsible for the second-degree murder of his father, a regional director of a neo-Nazi organization, a judge ruled Monday.

    The "responsible" verdict is the juvenile court equivalent of guilty.

    Riverside Superior Court Judge Jean Leonard acknowledged the boy's "long history of abuse and neglect." The case was heard without a jury.

    For more, visit NBCLosAngeles.com

    Leonard agreed with a psychologist who testified during trial that for the boy, "the potential for violence could have been predicted" based on prenatal substance abuse by the mother, domestic violence between parents and the father's neo-Nazi philosophy.

    Leonard said she considered the boy's age, the circumstance of the crime, the boy's experience, including family and mental condition, and his understanding of the crime.

    "This was not a naive boy," Leonard said. "(He) knew about hate" and "knew what he was doing was wrong at the time of the crime."

    Sentencing was scheduled for Feb. 15.

    In May 2011, the then 10-year-old boy shot and killed his father Jeff Hall with a .357 Magnum at pointblank range. The 32-year-old was asleep on the family's couch at the time of his death.

    The child pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

    Prosecutors argued that the boy had a history of violence and told his younger sister two days before the shooting that he planned to kill his father.

  • Neo-Nazi who killed family was 'cruel,' 'controlling,' friend of victims says

    JT Ready for Sheriff via Facebook

    J. T. Ready, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi, was among five dead at a shooting at a home in Gilbert, Arizona. He was running for Pinal County Sheriff.

    By Ian Johnston, msnbc.com

    A leading neo-Nazi reportedly blamed by authorities in Arizona for killing two women, an Army veteran and a 16-month-old child in a suspected domestic incident was “cruel and controlling,” according to a former co-worker of one victim.

    J.T. Ready, a former Marine, was running for Pinal County sheriff and was a member of the U.S. Border Guard and the Minuteman Project, according to The Arizona Republic, which described the groups as anti-illegal immigration organizations. The paper said he also belonged to the National Socialist Movement, a group with white-supremacist views.

    The shootings took place at a house in Gilbert, Ariz., shortly after midday Wednesday. The Republic reported that authorities believe Ready killed himself after shooting the others.

    Gilbert Police Sergeant Bill Balafas said officers were interviewing a witness to the shooting, which investigators believe stemmed from a "domestic situation," Reuters reported. 

    Hugo Mederos, of Florida, told the Republic that the victims were his former wife, Lisa Mederos, 47, their daughter Amber Mederos, 23, her boyfriend Jim "Jambob" Hiott, 24, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, and Amber’s 16-month-old daughter Lily.

    Hugo Mederos told the paper that his other daughter, Brittany Mederos, was present at the time, but was not hurt.

    Matt York / AP

    A police officer walks with a man who said he had a child inside of the home where five people were shot in Gilbert, Ariz., Wednesday.

    "She was in the bedroom when she heard the gunshots," he added. "She heard everybody screaming. She heard the baby crying."

    Amber Mederos was employed at a nearby Wendy's restaurant and Heather Morton, a former employee, told the Republic that Ready had met the Mederos sisters at the restaurant and then began a relationship with their mother.

    Armored gunman, 4 people dead in Arizona shooting

    Morton told the Republic that Ready moved in with Lisa Mederos, but Amber Mederos, her daughter and fiancé had left the family home because Ready was "cruel and controlling."

    Morton said Ready had once said of Lily, who was half-Hispanic, “she's 50 percent ugly,” the paper reported. “That's how he described her," she added.

    A Facebook page entitled "JT Ready for Sheriff" carried a message from the administrator noting unconfirmed reports that "a cartel assassination squad murdered JT Ready and several of his friends and family this afternoon in Gilbert Arizona," according to Reuters.

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  • 'Click here to help,' beseeches former Klansman David Duke

    Burt Steel / AP file

    Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke speaks to supporters at a reception in 2004, in Kenner, La. Duke was fresh out of prison after serving 15 months for tax fraud.

    By Kari Huus, NBC News

    Former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke is making an online appeal for financial support after his arrest in Germany prevented him from speaking at a nationalist gathering.

    The ex-Louisiana state legislator, 61, who was dubbed an “undesirable foreigner” and detained in Cologne before he could address a group called Outside the Network on Friday, said he needs the money to stay in German and wage a battle “for my rights and the rights of the people of Europe to hear me.”

    “As much as I would like to, I can’t just go back to Louisiana right now as I have to fight this improper action against me and our brothers and sisters,”  Duke, who is now free but reportedly facing deportation, declared on his official website. “The truth is that I and all who stand up for the heritage and freedom of the European and American people… and the right to preserve their identity and unique human rights.”

    While most of you will be getting ready for the warmth and love and friendship and family of Christmas, I will be far from home fighting the good fight… Please remember me and this sacred struggle for our people at this beautiful time of year that is such an expression of our exquisite culture and values... I believe you will come through with great generosity, even sacrifice at this time, even with all your personal needs during the Christmas season."

    The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that tracks hate groups and fights discrimination cases, describes Duke as the “most recognizable figure of the American radical right, a neo-Nazi, longtime Klan leader and now international spokesman for Holocaust denial.”

    Supporters see Duke as a political dissident.

    “Because the person being persecuted was a pro-White advocate … his arrest has so far been ignored by the mainstream media, and the U.S. government remains quiet about this too,” wrote James Buchanan, who describes himself as an advocate for white civil rights, on the site Whitelaw Towers.

    Grounds for Duke's arrest are unclear. The German embassy in Washington, D.C. directed enquiries about Duke to the U.S. embassy in Germany.

    In Germany and several other European countries, laws prohibit hate speech that may incite violence against any racial or religious group and speech that denies or minimizes the Holocaust perpetrated under the Nazis. He was arrested in Prague in 2009 on suspicion of denying the Holocaust and promoting the neo-Nazi movement, and expelled from the country hours later. Duke denied the charges, saying he was there to lecture about Israeli control of U.S. foreign policy.

    Duke served as grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. He gave the organization a make-over — shedding the white robes for business suits and arguing that the organization was “not anti-black” but “pro-white” and pro-Christian.” Duke was elected to the Louisiana Legislature, where he served from 1990-1992 before making an unsuccessful run for U.S. president in 1992.

    In 2002, he served 15 months in prison term and paid a fine of $10,000 after being convicted of federal tax fraud.

    He now travels regularly to Europe touting his books espousing white separatism and opposition to what he views as Jewish control of media, government and financial institutions.

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