Victim’s Estate Allowed to Seize Gifts to Hate Group

The estate of a black man killed by racist “skinheads” was granted court permission Friday to seize donations sent to post office boxes rented by the White Aryan Resistance, a hate group led by white supremacist Tom Metzger of suburban San Diego.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Terry O’Rourke ruled that the donations could be seized to help pay a $12.5-million civil judgment against Metzger, his son, John, two skinheads and WAR. A Portland, Ore., jury returned the award last year in the November, 1988, beating death of Mulugeta Seraw, a 27-year-old Ethiopian immigrant who was killed in an attack by two skinheads.

O’Rourke’s ruling marked Metzger’s latest legal and financial setback. Last month, San Diego Superior Court Judge Lawrence Kapiloff ruled that Metzger’s house in Fallbrook, 40 miles north of San Diego, could be sold to help satisfy the $12.5-million award.

James McElroy, the San Diego lawyer representing Seraw’s family, said Friday that the WAR post office boxes, rented by Tom and John Metzger, have generated between $75,000 and $100,000 annually. WAR sells videotapes, racist literature and newspaper subscriptions.

“Now that the word is out, we expect that (amount) will be cut down to a certain extent, but there are people who will be sending money in, I’m sure,” McElroy said Friday after the hearing. “And it’s the best we can do under the circumstances.”

O’Rourke ordered Metzger, who calls himself a white separatist, to turn over the keys to two Fallbrook post office boxes to a receiver, as soon as one is appointed.

Metzger is due back in court on Monday to discuss the details of the house sale.

Seraw’s skull was split open when he was attacked. In October, 1990, the Portland jury found that the skinheads, who pleaded guilty in the slaying, had been incited by the campaign of racial hatred waged by the Metzgers and WAR.