Topics
Edgar Steele
Summary
Edgar Steele died in a California prison on Sept. 4, the California prison system confirmed. Cause of death has not been released.
Edgar Steele was sentenced on Nov. 9, 2011, to 50 years in federal prison for a failed murder-for-hire plot that targeted his wife and mother-in-law with a car bomb.
Steele was convicted May 5 of plotting to kill his wife and mother-in-law. His wife, Cyndi Steele, vowed to appeal the verdict. She believed her husband was targeted because of his defense of unpopular clients, including the Aryan Nations.
The North Idaho lawyer was arrested June 11, 2010, and charged in the plot. That was the day the women were allegedly to be killed in a car crash meant to look like an accident.
Four days later, mechanics found a pipe bomb attached to an SUV driven by Steele’s wife Cyndi Steele, just hours before he pleaded not guilty to the murder-for-hire charge in federal court.
On June 9, Larry Fairfax had told FBI Special Agent Mike Sotka he’d been hired by Steele, whom he said he’d known for 20 years, to kill Steele’s wife and mother-in-law. He said he’d already been paid $10,000 in silver coins, received $400 for travel expenses to Oregon, where Steele’s mother-in-law lives, and was to receive $25,000 for the murders, then $100,000 if an auto insurance claim paid off.
Fairfax was arrested June 15 after he told investigators he made the bomb at his home. Fairfax is accused of placing the bomb on the 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor Limited on May 30, one day before Cyndi Steele was to drive to Oregon. He told police that although he planted the first bomb, he manipulated the fuse to malfunction, according to court documents.
Steele, 65, wanted his wife murdered because he “had been establishing a relationship with a young woman who lives outside of the United States,” according to documents filed in February 2011 in U.S. District Court in Coeur d’Alene.
Edgar Steele’s background includes a history of association with North Idaho white supremacists. Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler hired the Sandpoint attorney in 2000 to defend the group from a lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of a woman and her son who were shot at outside Butler’s Hayden Lake compound. Although Steele lost the court battle and the $6.3 million jury award bankrupted the group and shut down the compound, he quickly rose to prominence in the extremist movement.
Cyndi Steele, who operates a horse farm on the couple’s property, filed for divorce in June 2000, alleging her husband “misrepresented his marital status and eligibility” in online dating profiles “with the sole intention of meeting women” in San Mateo, Calif., where he maintained a law office. But the case was dismissed two months later and the couple remained married.
When Steele took over the Aryan Nations’ defense, he said it wasn’t because he shared Butler’s beliefs, but because he believed the case was about free speech. He sued The Spokesman-Review over an article he said implied otherwise. The Idaho Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2003.
Key people
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Edgar Steele
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Larry Fairfax
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Cyndi Steele
Latest updates in this topic
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Steele will undergo mental health exam
April 7, 2011 in Sirens & Gavels -
Steele trial postponed, moved to Boise
March 8, 2011 in Sirens & Gavels -
Judge Denies Steele Venue Change
February 25, 2011 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Steele’s Lawyer Wants Trial Moved
February 23, 2011 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Steele’s lawyers want trial moved to Wyo.
February 23, 2011 in Sirens & Gavels -
Feds: Affair was Steele’s murder motive
February 18, 2011 in Sirens & Gavels -
Prosecutors: Steele ♥ Ukrainian
February 18, 2011 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Judge rejects Edgar Steele’s bail request
February 17, 2011 in Sirens & Gavels -
Steele’s supporters propose $1m bond
February 14, 2011 in Sirens & Gavels -
Steele’s lawyers hint at defense plan
February 9, 2011 in Sirens & Gavels -
Edgar Steele To Seek New Lawyer
February 4, 2011 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Edgar Steele seeks new defense lawyer
February 4, 2011 in Sirens & Gavels -
Fast Lane Lube Still On The Job
November 11, 2010 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Judge OKs Weekly Meeting For Steeles
October 20, 2010 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Steeles allowed weekly jail meetings
October 20, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
Pipe bomb planter pleads guilty in Idaho
October 8, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
Murder-For-Hire Suspect Pleads Guilty
October 7, 2010 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Plea hearing today in murder-for-hire plot
October 7, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
Cyndi Steele: Let me talk to Edgar
September 29, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
HBO Poll: Steele Wasn’t Framed
September 22, 2010 in Huckleberries Online -
Spencer: FBI Doesn’t Entrap, Does It?
September 22, 2010 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Hoyt: Feds ‘can make you say anything’
September 21, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
AM: He’s Innocent I Telly Ya
September 21, 2010 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Alaskan83: Edgar Steele Was Framed
September 21, 2010 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Cyndi Steele: Husband Is Innocent
September 20, 2010 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria
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Alleged murder plot victim to speak out
September 20, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
Fairfax deal postponed; victim hires lawyer
September 10, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
Murder plot victim slams federal prosecutors
September 8, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
Plea delayed for informant in murder plot
September 8, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
Deal set for informant in Edgar Steele case
September 2, 2010 in Sirens & Gavels -
Doug Clark Sings ‘Stand By Your Klan’
August 30, 2010 in Huckleberries Online -
Did Steele Violate No-Contact Order?
August 24, 2010 in Huckleberries Onlineby DFO Oliveria