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The Story of The Ft. Smith Sedition Trial

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  • The Story of The Ft. Smith Sedition Trial

    The Story of The Ft. Smith Sedition Trial


    http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...2300#post12300
    http://christian-identity.net/forum/...2300#post12300


    This is an archive concerning the Ft. Smith Sedition Trial of late 1987 to early 1988.

    Hail Victory!!!

    Pastor Martin Luther Dzerzhinsky Lindstedt
    Church of Jesus Christ Christian/Aryan Nations of Missouri
    http://whitenationalist.org/forum


    _________________________
    http://www.pastorlindstedt.org/lindstedt
    http://www.whitenationalist.org/forum

  • #2
    Conspiracy Trial of 14 White Supremacists Begins

    Conspiracy Trial of 14 White Supremacists Begins

    By KATHERINE BISHOP, Special to the New York Times
    Published: February 18, 1988



    http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/18/us...ts-begins.html
    http://www.whitenationalist.org/foru...=7876#post7876
    http://christian-identity.net/forum/...=7876#post7876


    FORT SMITH, Ark., Feb. 17— Opening arguments began in Federal District Court here today in the trial of 14 members of the white supremacist movement, including 10 leaders who are charged with seditious conspiracy by plotting to overthrow the Government by force.

    Five defendants are accused of conspiring to murder a Federal judge and an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. All the events cited in the indictment took place in the period from July 1983 to April 1985.

    An assistant United States attorney, Steven N. Snyder, told the jury of 10 men and 2 women today that a meeting of the leaders of several racist and neo-Nazi groups in July 1983 in Hayden Lake, Idaho, set into motion subsequent robberies, bombings and murder conspiracies aimed at establishing a white Aryan nation in the United States.

    Everett D. Hofmeister, attorney for one of the accused, Richard G. Butler, said in his opening statement: ''The issue here is the right to freedom of speech. Replacing the government of the United States with another government is not conspiracy.''

    The defendants include many of the leaders and most active members of organizations around the country that have been united in their opposition to the Federal Government, which they call the Zionist Occupational Government, and through a religion they call Identity, which teaches that Jews are the offspring of Satan.

    Total of 119 Acts

    Irwin Suall, director of the fact-finding department of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, called the trial ''the most important legal challenge to the top leaders of the hate movement in memory.''

    To convict the 10 charged with seditious conspiracy, the prosecution must prove that they met and planned to overthrow the Government. The 10, named in a total of 119 overt acts including robberies, counterfeiting and attempting to murder Federal officials, face maximum sentences of 20 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

    Among those charged in the conspiracy count are Robert E. Miles, 63 years old, a former Ku Klux Klansman who heads the Mountain Church of Jesus Christ the Saviour in Cohoctah, Mich., a leader in advocating a separate Aryan nation in the Pacific Northwest; Mr. Butler, 69, pastor of an Identity church, the Church of Jesus Christ Christian in Hayden Lake, and its political arm, the Aryan Nations, and Louis Ray Beam Jr., 41, former Grand Dragon of the Texas Ku Klux Klan. Mr. Beam, of Houston, was a fugitive until he was arrested last November in Guadalajara, Mexico.

    According to the indictment, Mr. Miles, Mr. Butler and Mr. Beam formed a core group along with Robert Jay Mathews that met to plan the establishment of a separate Aryan nation within the United States.

    Racketeering and Murder

    Mr. Mathews, a member of Mr. Butler's church who headed an offshoot of the Aryan Nations known as The Order or the Bruder Schweigen (Silent Brotherhood), was killed in December 1984 in a gun battle with more than 100 police officers on an island in Puget Sound.

    Also charged in the conspiracy are former members of the Order who were convicted on racketeering charges in Seattle in December 1985 and given sentences ranging from 40 to 100 years in prison. They are Richard J. Scutari, 40; Andrew V. Barnhill, 31; Ardie McBrearty, 60; David E. Lane, 49; and Bruce C. Pierce, 33.

    Mr. Pierce and Mr. Lane have also been convicted of the 1984 slaying of a Denver radio personality, Alan Berg, The two were convicted of Federal charges of violating Mr. Berg's civil rights for killing him because he was Jewish. In the same trial, Mr. Scutari was found not guilty of acting as lookout for the killers.

    Also charged with seditious conspiracy are Richard W. Snell, 57, and Robert N. Smalley, 32. Mr. Scutari and Mr. Barnhill are additionally charged with transporting stolen money.

    The indictment also charges five defendants with conspiring to kill Judge H. Franklin Waters, the chief Federal District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas, and Jack D. Knox, an F.B.I. agent.

    The five are Mr. Snell; Lambert Miller, 37; Ivan R. Wade, 35; William H. Wade, 69, and David M. McGuire, 25. Government-Protected Witnesses

    The trial, which is expected to last at least three months, is expected to hear the testimony of several witnesses who were members of neo-Nazi organizations and have since become Government-protected witnesses.

    Among them are James D. Ellison, the founder of a racist organization, the Covenant, Sword and the Arm of the Lord, near Mountain Home, Ark., and Kerry Wayne Noble, the leader of the group's Identity church, known as the Church of Zarepath-Horeb after the biblical place of refuge and divine inspiration.

    When the 224-acre compound of Mr. Ellison's group was raided by the police in 1985, a training area the group called Silhouette City was found. It contained a target range with cutouts of state troopers with the Star of David painted on their chests.

    According to the indictment, Mr. Ellison attended meetings in which the proposed murders were plotted.


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