ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – An inmate at Thomson Penitentiary awaits sentencing after a federal jury found him guilty of killing a fellow inmate because he was Jewish.
Brandon Simonson, also known as “Whitey,” 41, of Moorehead, Minnesota, was convicted Tuesday following a seven-day trial in Rockford.
Simonson was found guilty of all four counts against him, including second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, hate crime and assault in the March 2020 death of 31-year-old Matthew Phillips.
During the trial, prosecutors say Simonson, and another inmate, Kristopher Martin, planned to beat Phillips because he was Jewish. The attack was reportedly a way to gain recognition and membership into a white supremacist antisemitic prison gang called the Valhalla Bound Skinheads…