White Supremacist Convicted Of Killing Jewish Inmate At IL Prison: Authorities

ROCKFORD, IL — A white supremacist serving time at a high-security federal prison in northern Illinois was convicted Tuesday after a weeklong jury trial of killing a fellow inmate, according to authorities.

Brandon Simonson, 41, of Moorhead, Minnesota, who is also known as “Whitey,” was found guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, hate crime and assault, authorities said, after he and fellow Thomson Penitentiary prisoner Kristopher Martin attacked 31-year-old Matthew Phillips because he was Jewish.

The two men assaulted Phillips in 2020 to gain membership into the antisemitic prison gang the Valhalla Bound Skinheads, with Simonson punching and kicking Phillips in the face and head after he was already knocked unconscious, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The incident occurred on March 2, 2020, and Phillips died three days later, authorities said.

“We are grateful to the jury for delivering justice in a very difficult case for Mr. Phillips’ family and the people of the Northern District of Illinois,” Andrew Boutros, U.S. attorney for the district, said in a news release. “We will not tolerate criminal acts such as these anywhere in our district, including in our prison system.”

Martin, 43, of Brazil, Indiana, pleaded guilty earlier in 2025 and is awaiting sentencing, according to the department.

Simonson and Martin both "espoused white supremacist views and possessed various Nazi memorabilia and other items symbolizing white supremacy," according to a 2021 indictment.

In addition to tattoos and written material promoting the Valhalla Bound Skinheads, the duo allegedly had "a cup with a swastika engraved on it, drawings of Adolph Hitler, and prison shoes with the numerical symbols '88' and '14'" — numbers with symbolic significance to neo-Nazis.

According to the indictment, the two men taunted and ridiculed Phillips for being Jewish.

Simonson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in 2015 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

He is set to be sentenced for the murder case on Aug. 22, according to the department. Convictions for murder, conspiracy and hate crime charges each carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while the maximum sentence for the assault charge is 10 years.