Edgar Steele through the years

Edgar Steele was a little-known Sandpoint attorney when Richard Butler hired him in 2000 to defend the Aryan Nations in a lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Though Steele lost the case and the jury's $6.3 million verdict bankrupted the racist group, Steele's defense of Butler pushed him into the national spotlight in the racist movement.

Section:Gallery

Tue., June 22, 2010

Edgar Steele, attorney for Richard Butler, leaves the Kootenai County Courthouse in August 2000.

Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review
Attorney Edgar Steele, who claims to be an attorney for the McGuckin children, talks with the assembled media from around the world at Garfield Bay on Lake Pend Oreille Saturday afternoon, June 2, 2001. Although Joann McGuckin's attorney said Steele is not their attorney, Steele showed up at a Saturday press conference claiming to be still on the case.

Colin Mulvany The Spokesman-Review
Edgar Steele, attorney for Richard Butler, talks with the media outside the Kootenai County Courthouse in August 2000.

Liz Kishimoto The Spokesman-Review
Edgar Steele's booking photo after he was arrested on June 11, 2010, on a federal charge that he hired someone to kill his wife and mother-in-law.

Kootenai County Sheriff'S Department The Spokesman-Review
Edgar Steele, the attorney who defended Richard Butler against the lawsuit brought by Morris Dees, watches the proceedings, camera in hand at the Aryan Nations parade Saturday, Oct. 28, 2000 in Coeur d'Alene.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review
Cyndi and Edgar Steele have owned this home on Talache Road east of Shepherd Lake in Sagle since 1996.

Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review
Attorney Edgar Steele, left, listens to Richard Masker after Steele testified on his behalf in a tax hearing in the Kootenai County Administration Building Tuesday, May 14, 2002. Masker, who with his wife Deon (right) live on disability, is facing the loss of his house for not paying taxes for more than three years. He is a white supremacist who has told friends he will shoot it out and commit suicide before being evicted.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review
This is a 2002 photo of Edgar J. Steele, an attorney from Sagle who defended the Aryan Nations in a suit by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He sued The Spokesman-Review, alleging an article implied he shared racist views.
Attorney Edgar Steele made an appearance with the protesters in front of the Bonner County Courthouse in June 2001. About fifty people from around the region showed up to protest the way officials handled the McGuckins, a family that had a five-standoff with Bonner County sheriff's deputies.
Sandpoint attorney Edgar Steele talks with the media about the McGuckin children of Sagle and how he now represents the family at a news conference Thursday evening in Sandpoint, May 31, 2001.

File The Spokesman-Review
Aryan attorney Edgar Steele talks with skinheads after the Aryan Parade on Sherman Ave in Coeur d'Alene in October 2000.

Dan Pelle The Spokesman-Review
Richard Butler's attorney, Edgar Steele, at left, stands back as Richard Butler speaks to the media outside the Kootenai County Courthouse in 2000 after the reading of the verdict in favor of Victoria and Jason Keenan.

Liz Kishimoto The Spokesman-Review
Aryan Nations defense attorney Edgar Steele at the Kootenai County Courthouse in 2000.

Brian Plonka The Spokesman-Review