Hate Group Leader Denies Knowing of Assault

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.

Butler has contended that the guards were renegades who violated Aryan Nations’ rules in racing off the group’s compound near Hayden Lake to chase the Keenans.

The Keenans seek unspecified damages for the July 1, 1998, incident, in which they were chased by three Aryan Nations security guards, shot at and assaulted after stopping in front of the group’s headquarters north of here.

The Keenans took the stand Friday and described their ordeal.

They said they have suffered lasting psychological problems.

Dr. Paul Domitor, a Spokane, Wash., clinical psychologist, testified that the Keenans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, similar to shellshock suffered by war veterans.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers also questioned an expert who said the Aryan Nations’ security was inadequate.

Anthony Potter, a security executive at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, said trained security guards would never have left the compound in case the car they were chasing was a diversion.

Earlier, under questioning from plaintiffs’ lawyer Richard Cohen, who is with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Butler acknowledged he had directed his security guards to be alert for possible harassment or attack from the Jewish Defense League or a local human rights organization before a July 1998 march.