APar 06/04 0332 White Supremacists-Butler FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) -- The leader of a white s

APar 06/04 0332 White Supremacists-Butler


   FORT  SMITH,  Ark.  (AP)  --  The leader of a white separatist
movement has been  freed  on  a  $100,000  signature  bond  after
pleading innocent to charges of seditious conspiracy.

   A federal  grand jury in Fort Smith indicted the Rev.  Richard
Girnt Butler, 69, and accused him of plotting  to  overthrow  the
federal government.

   U.S.  Magistrate  Ned  Stewart  allowed  Butler  to  post  the
signature bond Wednesday.  He and the  13  others  named  in  the
indictment are scheduled for trial July 6.

   Butler  already  was  free  on a $100,000 bond set by an Idaho
magistrate.  The bond was secured by land owned by the Church  of
Jesus  Christ Christian (Aryan Nations) at Hayden Lake, Idaho, of
which he is the founder, Butler's attorney, Everett Hofmeister of
Idaho, said.

   Hofmeister also filed several motions, seeking to  review  the
government's  evidence  against  Butler,  including any gained by
electronic surveillance; to move the trial to Idaho; to  try  him
separately;  and  to  force the government to identify informants
used in the case.

   If convicted, Butler could receive a maximum of  20  years  in
prison and a $20,000 fine.

   The trial may be delayed because a federal judge at Denver has
refused  to  transfer  three  defendants in the case to Arkansas.
The government wants to try all 14 defendants at the same time.

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