Trial Will Create Courthouse Congestion Jury Selection Scheduled To Begin On Monday In Aryan Nations Civil Trial

While county officials hope to conduct business as usual, they acknowledge residents will face inconveniences Monday when the Aryan Nations civil trial begins.

Jury selection starts at 9 a.m. Monday for the trial pitting a mother and her son against an organization that preaches racial purity.

Noted civil rights attorney Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, is representing Victoria Keenan and her son, Jason.

Their car was riddled with bullets in 1998 after it reportedly had backfired outside the Aryan Nations compound north of Hayden Lake.

Two Aryans were convicted of criminal charges in connection with that shooting and a third suspect has not been found.

Dees has said that he is seeking a jury decision that will bankrupt the Aryan Nations and its leader, 82-year-old Richard Butler.

Media attention and protesters are expected to cause an almost “circus atmosphere” around county buildings for the two weeks the trial is expected to last, Kootenai County Commissioner Ron Rankin said.

“Mainly it’s the congestion that will be the inconvenience. It’s unavoidable,” Rankin said. “You can only handle so many people at one time.”

While the trial is in session, police will close Garden Avenue between Northwest Boulevard and Government Way and the county has placed a 30-minute limit for residents parking in the large lot south of the administration building.

The trial has attracted national media attention. Kootenai County Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said he has passed out 62 media badges as of Friday afternoon.

“We will have a high presence of officers” at the courthouse, Wolfinger said. “We’ve found in the past that (presence) has been a deterrence.”

That should not stop residents from using the offices in the courthouse, which will all remain open.

“A couple of other trials will be going on, so parking could be an issue,” he said.

Wolfinger suggested that residents allow more time and use parking on side streets when conducting business at the courthouse.

Butler has reportedly asked his supporters to stay clear of the trial.

Rankin fears that protest groups, such as the Jewish Defense League, may bring large numbers of people to rally against the Aryans.

“If (Aryans) were the sole participants, we would know it was them if anything happened,” Rankin said.

But with other groups coming in, officers may face situations where someone creates a disturbance and blames it on the other side.

“I just think we could take care of our own business a lot better if it was between the courts and the litigants - not the outside agitators,” Rankin said.

While all county offices will remain open, at least one public hearing was canceled because of the trial, senior planner Rand Wichman said.

County planners had scheduled a Sept. 7 planning issue hearing that will be skipped. The next hearing examiner hearing will be held Sept. 21, he said.

“We don’t have any other hearings scheduled,” Wichman said. “If we did, we would have canceled them too, just to minimize the public coming and going.”

County officials sent letters to all county employees asking them to drive county cars home to avoid parking problems.

“We refreshed our memory of the emergency operations plan and how to react to different scenarios,” Wichman said. “The employees will be suffering like everybody else on the parking.”

This sidebar appeared with the story:

CHANGES

Traffic, parking

While the trial is in session, Garden Avenue between Northwest Boulevard and Government Way will be closed, and there will be a 30-minute limit for residents parking in the large lot south of the administration building. Kootenai County Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger suggested that residents allow more time and park on side streets when conducting business at the courthouse. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.