Cross-Burning Was Private Memorial, Witness Says
The head of the Idaho-based Aryan Nations testified Wednesday that a 1983 cross-burning in Lakeview Terrace was a private memorial for a slain police officer, not a ceremony designed to intimidate minorities.
The three crosses set ablaze on a sympathizer’s property in the Kagel Canyon area also had religious significance, the Rev. Richard Butler said at the trial of four white supremacists charged in connection with the event.
Prosecutors allege that the three 15-foot-plus crosses were burned to incite violence and terrorize residents in the predominantly black neighborhood. Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger, reputed American Nazi Party leader Stanley Witek, and self-avowed white supremacists Erich Schmidt and Brad Kelly are each facing a felony conspiracy charge and two related misdemeanors in the case. Each faces a maximum three-year prison term if convicted.
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