Aryan Nations

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In a blow to hate groups that have made the Northwest their clubhouse, the founder of the Aryan Nations has agreed to give up his Idaho compound to satisfy a $6.3-million verdict against the white supremacist organization. Richard Butler, 82, has agreed to hand over the 20-acre property no later than Oct. 25. Under the agreement, he must also give up the property's contents--Nazi and Confederate flags, Third Reich posters, a silver bust of Adolf Hitler and stained glass swastikas.

A defense lawyer sought a new trial for the white supremacist Aryan Nations, which could lose all its assets as a result of a $6.3-million civil judgment. Edgar Steele, who represents the group and its leader, Richard Butler, argued that his clients did not receive a fair trial before the Sept. 7 verdict. Among other things, the motion alleges juror misconduct.

An Idaho jury's multimillion-dollar civil judgment against the Aryan Nations and its top leaders seems likely to force the liquidation of one of the nation's largest and most violent white supremacist organizations. That is the intent of the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center, whose lawyers brought suit against the Aryan Nations and its leader, Richard Girnt Butler, on behalf of a mother and son who were assaulted by three of the group's armed guards near its compound north of Coeur d'Alene.

In a verdict likely to bankrupt one of the nation's most violent white supremacist organizations, an Idaho jury Thursday returned a $6.3-million civil judgment against the Aryan Nations and its founder, Richard Butler--the rural Idaho pastor who has been called "the elder statesman of American hate."

A lawyer for a mother and son who were attacked as they drove past the Aryan Nations' headquarters asked jurors Wednesday to award $11.26 million in damages. After six days of testimony, lawyer Morris Dees asked the jury to "send a message" to hate groups across the nation. Dees, of the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center, suggested the jury award $1.26-million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.

The Aryan Nations white supremacist group was negligent in the operation of its security force, U.S. District Judge Charles W. Hosack ruled. The move clears the way for a Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, jury to assess punitive and compensatory damages should it side with plaintiffs Victoria Keenan and her son, Jason, in their civil rights case against the group. The Keenans are seeking unspecified damages for a 1998 incident in which they say they were assaulted by Aryan Nations security guards.

Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler conceded Friday that he is the absolute authority at the white supremacist sect's headquarters but said he had no knowledge of his security guards' actions when they shot at and assaulted a woman and her son. Butler's testimony began the final day of plaintiffs' witnesses in Victoria and Jason Keenan's civil rights case against Butler and his Aryan Nations church. The defense is expected to begin laying out its case Tuesday.

Seven undercover federal agents who posed as journalists to photograph protesters at a civil trial targeting the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations group were stripped of their media passes Thursday after a reporter complained. The FBI agents had obtained the media credentials earlier this week in the trial aimed at bankrupting one of the most potent forces in the U.S. white supremacist movement. On Thursday, Capt.

As a landmark civil trial aimed at bankrupting the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations got underway Tuesday, a former lieutenant testified that leader Richard Butler once gave him a bottle to build a crude firebomb intended for the offices of a Jewish real estate broker.