Hate crimes net prison

Noting the "ugliness" of the hate crimes committed, a federal judge sentenced the former leader of a national white-supremacist group to more than seven years in federal prison and a co-defendant to serve more than three years for his minor role in a conspiracy to spread fear among Utah minorities by assaulting them.

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson found 38-year-old Shaun Walker was the leader of a plan to start a "race war" in Utah by assaulting minorities in order to make them feel unwelcome.

Walker is the former national chairman of the West Virginia-based National Alliance, which espouses anti-immigration and racist rhetoric.

Also in court Monday was 24-year-old Eric Egbert, who was also charged in the racist plot. A third man, Travis Massey, had his sentence postponed Monday after he requested a new attorney.

A federal jury found Walker, Massey and Egbert guilty last April on charges of hate crimes and civil rights violations.

During the four-day trial, federal prosecutors claimed the trio plotted the beating of two men outside Salt Lake bars as part of an overall campaign to start a "race war" by intimidating "non-whites."

Patrons and employees at the O'Shucks bar took the witness stand to recall a racist confrontation with members of the National Alliance group on New Year's Eve 2002. Employees said the white supremacists handed out stickers calling for a stop to all immigration by "non-whites," saying they "are turning America into a Third World slum ... they come for welfare or to take our jobs."

They also referred to minorities as "messy," "disruptive," "noisy" and said they "multiply rapidly."

Walker's attorney, Robin Ljungberg, said Monday the National Alliance's literature does not condone violence and said his client had a spotless criminal record and "never crossed the street the wrong way." Ljungberg also said Walker no longer wants to be involved with the National Alliance.

"He was playing with fire, frankly, in the past," Ljungberg said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Curran said Walker was directly involved in conversations about terrorizing minorities, adding that as head of the National Alliance he also promoted a video game called "Ethnic Cleansing" in which the player kills "blacks and Jews."