Sentencing delayed for trio in beating of 2 men

Sentencing for three members of a white-supremacist group, convicted by a federal jury in the beating of two minority men outside two Salt Lake City bars, has been continued for two weeks.

Sentencing for Shaun Walker, Travis D. Massey and Eric G. Egbert was originally scheduled for Tuesday but has been pushed back to Aug. 13 by order of the court.

Last April a jury found all three men guilty of waging a "race war" against non-whites in the Salt Lake City area. All three men are members of a group called the National Alliance, of which Walker was the national chairman and Massey was the local Utah chapter leader.

Federal prosecutors allege the three men organized a campaign to strike fear in non-whites living in Salt Lake City through the beating of two men outside of two downtown bars.

Patrons and employees of the O'Shucks bar testified that that men matching the suspects' appearance dragged the bar's manager, who is of Hispanic descent, outside and beat him on New Year's Eve 2002. Two fellow National Alliance members also testified that the three men had talked about the assault afterward.

A Native American man was also beaten outside the Port O' Call bar in March 2003.

Defense attorneys for the men called the incidents drunken brawls that had nothing to do with race. However, witnesses testified that the men had prior conversations about starting a "race war" against non-whites.

When sentenced, all three men face up to 20 years in federal prison.