Supremacist Denied Testimony From Reno

Tue., July 27, 1999

From Staff

A condemned white supremacist will not be allowed to get testimony from U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno until the government has time to appeal an order that allowed subpoenas to stand, a judge said Monday.

U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele entered the order after lawyers for Danny Lee said they had no objection to a stay of the subpoenas until the government had exhausted its appeals.

Attorneys for Lee, 26, of Yukon, Okla., are working to convince U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele to order a new sentencing phase for Lee. Last May, a jury recommended Lee be sentenced to death after it had recommended a life sentence for Chevie Kehoe, also 26, of Colville, Wash. Prosecutors alleged Kehoe and Lee killed an Arkansas family as part of a plot to further Kehoe’s plan to establish a whitesonly nation in the Pacific Northwest. The two were convicted of murder, conspiracy and racketeering.

Lee’s lawyers say prosecutors did not go through the proper procedures in continuing their pursuit of a death sentence for Lee, even after Kehoe drew a recommendation of life in prison.

U.S. Attorney Paula Casey said her office opted against seeking life for Lee but was overruled by Reno’s chief deputy, Eric Holder.

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