Writ Signed To Seize Aryan Nations Assets Sheriff Allowed To Post Guard ‘To Make Sure Nothing Leaves’

A legal document was signed Tuesday giving the Kootenai County sheriff the authority to seize assets at the Aryan Nations compound.

Sheriff Rocky Watson now has a “writ of execution” to grab assets to satisfy a $6.3 million judgment returned last Thursday by a civil jury.

“That’s fast,” the sheriff said when he was told the writ of execution had been issued, five days after the jury verdict.

“We’ll get it in the process and get moving on it,” Watson said.

No specific timetable is spelled out, but attorneys for Victoria and Jason Keenan want the asset seizure to occur as quickly as possible.

“We certainly have a sense of urgency about it,” said Coeur d’Alene attorney Norm Gissel, who represents the Keenans.

Watson said he would meet today with his civil deputies who regularly seize assets to satisfy judgments in civil suits.

“The first step we might take is posting a guard out there to make sure nothing leaves,” the sheriff said.

The guard could either be a sheriff’s deputy or a private security officer, Watson said.

Once the assets are seized, they are under the control of the sheriff until he conducts a sale to dispose of the property to satisfy the judgment.

Watson wasn’t prepared to say whether he would remove some of the property and store it, or secure it on site.

The only way the Aryan Nations can block the seizures is to post an appeal bond, something Butler says he can’t afford to do.

The Aryan leader is under a court order not to dispose of any of his assets, including 20 acres of land and a cluster of buildings.

The compound includes an old two-story frame farmhouse where Butler has lived since moving to North Idaho in 1973.

Legally, he can only leave with his clothes. He has been told to leave behind computers and office equipment.

The sheriff must take certain legal steps before executing the writ, and those could take a few days to complete.

The routine issuance of the writ of execution is only one of several post-trial legal steps being initiated.

The legal clock is ticking for various post-trial deadlines in the damages judgment against the Aryan Nations and other defendants.

Butler and defendants Michael Teague, Jesse Warfield and John Yeager have until Sept. 22 to ask 1st District Court Judge Charles Hosack for a new trial or request a reduction in the jury award.

If Butler’s attorney, Edgar Steele, files those motions, as is expected, the judge will set a hearing date if he wants to hear oral arguments.

The sheriff could wait until after those legal questions are cleared before he begins the exhaustive task of seizing and making an inventory of assets at the Aryan compound.

The judgment that formalized the jury’s findings was filed on Friday, a day after the jury awarded Victoria and Jason Keenan $330,000 in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages.

The Aryan Nations, Butler and his former chief of staff Teague were found to be “grossly negligent” for a July 1, 1998, assault on the Keenans carried out by Aryan guards.

Under Idaho law, Butler has 14 days from the filing of the judgment to seek a new trial or a reduction of the award.

If the losing party wants to appeal and doesn’t get a new trial, it has 54 days to take the issues to a higher court.

That means Butler has until Nov. 1, if he intends to appeal.

The 82-year-old Aryan leader said Saturday that he doesn’t intend to appeal.

If a losing party in such a civil case chooses to appeal, it must post a bond equal to 136 percent of the judgment.

The high bond is required to prevent the prevailing party from taking legal steps to seize property to satisfy the judgment.

A bond greater than the judgment is required because Idaho law allows the prevailing litigant to collect interest, currently at the rate of 11.25 percent, from the day the judgment is entered.