Lovelace Sentenced To Death Man Gets Wish To Die For Killing Fellow Racist

Convicted murderer Faron E. Lovelace got his Christmas wish a week early and was sentenced to death Wednesday for the execution of a fellow white separatist.

The 40-year-old self-described racist sat handcuffed, without emotion, in a Bonner County courtroom as visiting Judge James Judd imposed two death sentences, one for murder and one for kidnapping.

Lovelace began begging for the death penalty last year after he took law officers to the North Idaho grave of a murder victim they had known nothing about.

“I find beyond a reasonable doubt that Lovelace has demonstrated a propensity to commit murder and constitutes a continuing threat to society,” the judge said.

The judge described Lovelace as a “cold-blooded, pitiless murderer” who has no regard for human life.

Lovelace refused to stand for the sentencing and gazed at the courtroom ceiling, appearing emotionless, as the judge read his 11-page ruling.

The courtroom was hushed and full, with about half the spectators appearing to be high school students. A half-dozen sheriff’s deputies were in the courtroom.

Lovelace’s only words came when he said he doesn’t want a lawyer when his death sentence goes through an automatic review next year by the Idaho Supreme Court.

His only concern in the courtroom appeared to be a desire to hand a note to his wife, Norda Lovelace, who sat directly behind him.

Sheriff’s deputies didn’t allow the note-passing, and told the woman to visit her husband in the nearby jail.

“I just think this is wrong, because he’s not like they say,” Norda Lovelace said, crying softly after the death sentences were imposed.

“He’s not a cold-blooded killer, he’s not nothing like that,” she said.

The 60-year-old Priest River woman married Lovelace in October 1995, two months after he murdered Jeremy C. Scott, 24, formerly of Florida.

Lovelace, who acted as his own lawyer and admitted the crimes, was convicted Sept. 11 of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping by a Bonner County jury.

The death sentences for the mountain-man survivalist and twice-convicted armed robber from Iowa came five days after he and two other men were indicted on federal racketeering charges in Little Rock, Ark.

The Scott murder is one of eight criminal acts contained in the racketeering indictment.

Lovelace, Chevie O. Kehoe and Danny Lee, both 24, are accused of being members of what federal authorities called the Aryan People’s Republic.

The secretive, white-separatist group wanted to start a revolution and planned robberies and assassinations of public officials and disloyal members of the group, including Scott, the indictment alleges.

The body of another man believed killed by the group has not been found, and is thought to be in North Idaho.

Authorities now theorize that Scott was executed because he was writing letters or talking to others about robbery, kidnapping and other crimes contemplated by the Aryan People’s Republic.

“Lovelace perceives himself to have a mission and has anointed himself as judge, jury and executioner of persons he does not agree with,” Judd said. “I find that Lovelace will pursue these choices whether incarcerated or not.”

Now that he’s been sentenced, Lovelace will be turned over soon to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Deputy marshals will take him to Little Rock for arraignment on the new federal charges, which also carry a death penalty.

Deputy Attorney General Dennis Charney, who prosecuted Lovelace, said he is hopeful the Idaho execution won’t be stalled by the federal case.

“We’re not going to hold off on executing him just because of these federal charges,” Charney said.

Without protracted appeals, Charney said it’s conceivable Lovelace could face lethal injection or a firing squad next year in Idaho.

But he likely won’t return as a state prisoner until after the federal prosecution in Arkansas, and that probably won’t occur until next summer.

Scott was abducted from a cabin north of Sandpoint and held at gunpoint most of the night before being shot in the back of the head by Lovelace with a .38 caliber pistol.

“Lovelace carefully planned the murder of Scott,” Judd said in describing the aggravating circumstances. “Lovelace stalked Scott, extracted what information he wanted from Scott, then calmly and dispassionately killed him.”

“His killing of Jeremy Scott has exhibited his total and utter disregard for human life,” Judd said, looking directly at Lovelace.

A federal escapee, Lovelace was arrested near Priest River, Idaho, on Aug. 18, 1996, by deputy U.S. marshals who developed a ruse to lure him from his heavily armed, high mountain survivalist camp.

At the time of the arrest, authorities didn’t know anything about the Scott murder. Lovelace was an escapee, wanted for walking away from a prison bus in Colorado.

Lovelace immediately told investigators about the killing and took them to a shallow grave north of Sandpoint after they promised to honor his wish for the death penalty.

After spending half his life in prison, Lovelace said in interviews that he would rather be executed than spend the remainder of his life behind bars.

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