Trial over threat to officer starts

Opening arguments were heard Tuesday in the federal trial of a white supremacist accused of threatening a prosecutor overseeing a campaign to break up a prison-based supremacist gang.

Joe Rakes is charged in U.S. District Court with mailing a threatening communi- cation and conspiracy to impede an officer. According to court documents, Rakes conspired with others to mail a threatening letter in February 2004 to an assistant U.S. attorney who was prosecuting several members of a prison gang notorious for assaults and drug running within the Utah State Prison.

In an attempt to scatter members, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah sought the indictment of about a dozen members of the Soldiers of Aryan Culture with violating federal racketeering laws.

The group's members were blamed for several attacks and stabbings, which were reportedly required to move up in their ranks. Members were responsible for one brawl that broke out in a federal courtroom and another member was charged with stabbing a Hispanic inmate at the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City with a shank that he smuggled within a body cavity.

Several key leaders of SAC were sentenced to serve more than a decade in various federal penitentiaries across the country.

During that time, court documents show a letter was sent to the prosecutor stating "You stupid (expletive) ! It is because of you that my brothers are in jail for the Rico . . . we will get you," and signed "til the casket drops." The letter also made reference to the street on which the prosecutor lived.

In a trial that is expected to end today, federal prosecutors plan to bring witnesses to show that Rakes and others were trying to intimidate the U.S. Attorney's Office into dropping its cases against SAC members.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com