Late 1987 - April 8, 1998: White Separatists Tried, Acquitted of Sedition
Richard Butler, the head of the white separatist and neo-Nazi organization Aryan Nations, is indicted, along with 12 of his followers and fellow racists, by a federal grand jury for seditious conspiracy to overthrow the government by violence, conspiring to kill federal officials, and transporting stolen money across state lines. The sedition was allegedly developed at a 1983 Aryan Nations Congress meeting.
The case is tried in Fort Smith, Arkansas, before an all-white jury.
The goverment is unable to prove the case, and Butler and his fellow defendants are all acquitted.
The judge refuses to accept the jury’s statement that it is deadlocked on two counts, a ruling that leads to the blanket acquittals. Other white supremacists acquitted in the trial are Louis Beam, Richard Wayne Snell (see 9:00 p.m. April 19, 1995), and Robert Miles. US Attorney J. Michael Fitzhugh says he believes the prosecution proved its case, but “we accept the verdict of the jury.”
Six of the defendants are serving prison terms for other crimes.
The prosecution says Butler, Beam, Miles, and the other 10 defendants had robbed banks and armored trucks of $4.1 million, including about $1 million that still is missing.
The defense countered that the prosecution’s case was based on conspiracy theories given by the prosecution’s chief witness, James Ellison, an Arkansas white supremacist serving 20 years for racketeering.
During the proceedings, Butler undergoes quadruple bypass surgery and a second surgery to unblock his carotid artery, all at government expense.
[ASSOCIATED PRESS, 4/8/1998;
SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER, 2010;
SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER, 2010]
Some time after the trial, one of the jurors marries one of the defendants, David McGuire.
[KAPLAN, 2000, PP. 19]
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