Racist helped create threat, jurors decide

Federal prosecutors lacked evidence to show that Joe Rakes mailed a letter threatening the life of a federal prosecutor, but a jury was convinced Thursday that he did have a hand in the letter's creation.

After hearing three days of testimony, it took a jury of seven women and five men about four hours to find Rakes, an ex-convict with ties to white supremacist prison gangs, guilty on one count of conspiracy to impede an officer.

"Threats against a prosecutor in this case is serious," said assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Haycock. "We're pleased with the verdict."

Prosecutors showed that Rakes conspired with others to create a letter expressing anger at the U.S. attorney for a campaign to break up a violent prison gang known as the Soldiers of Aryan Culture, using federal racketeering laws. The letter sent in February 2004 uses a derogatory term to describe the attorney, threatening her and listing the name of the street on which she lives.

The letter was among several sent to the U.S. Attorney's Office expressing displeasure over SAC prosecutions and listing addresses of other federal prosecutors. In all, over a dozen SAC members were convicted and scattered throughout the federal penal system.

A federal judge dismissed one count of mailing a threatening communication, finding there was no evidence that Rakes was actually the one who mailed the letter.

Rakes faces up to five years in federal prison when he's sentenced on June 13.