NCJ Number
187057
Journal
Intelligence Report Issue: 100 Dated: Fall 2000 Pages: 30-34
Editor(s)
Mark Potok
Date Published
2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes the events and the consequences surrounding a civil suit that awarded a $6.3-million judgment against the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations, a judgment that will lead to the dismantling of its compound in northern Idaho and the loss of power of its leader Richard Butler.
Abstract
On July 1, 1998, Victoria and Jason Keenan, returning from a wedding, stopped briefly in front of the Aryan Nations compound to retrieve something that had fallen from their car. Something, possibly a firecracker, led a group of Aryan guards to believe they were under attack, and jumping into a pickup truck, they chased the Keenans down the road. The guards fired repeatedly at the Keenans, eventually shooting a tire and forcing them into a ditch. They were threatened and brutalized, but finally freed. Two of the perpetrators were tried and sentenced for their roles in the attack. A third guard remains a fugitive. In the aftermath of the criminal cases, the Keenans filed a civil suit. The case closely paralleled a normal personal injury trial. Jurors found, in effect, that Butler had hired untrained ex-convicts as guards; given them no training or formal policies to follow; allowed them to carry assault weapons; filled their heads with hatred; and set them loose on the community. The jury determined that Butler should have known that the actions of his security guards were a foreseeable result of his negligent and reckless supervision. This financial blow to Aryan Nations will mark the end of Butler's leadership and strike a serious blow at the network that has promulgated and acted on a theology that depicts whites as God's chosen people and Jews as the biological descendants of Satan.