APar 06/01 2045 Butler-Supremacists


   FORT  SMITH,  Ark.  (AP)  --  The  head of north Idaho's Aryan
Nations church is scheduled to appear before  a  U.S.  magistrate
Wednesday   to   be  arraigned  on  a  federal  sedition  charge,
authorities said.

   Richard Butler, 69, of Hayden Lake, Idaho, has  been  free  on
$100,000 bond since he was released from jail on May 19.

   He  had  been  in  custody since surrendering on April 24, two
days after the indictments were handed down against  him  and  14
other white supremacists nationwide.

   Butler suffered a heart attack while in jail in Coeur d'Alene,
Idaho.  He later was hospitalized and underwent two heart-related
surgeries, including  a  quadruple  bypass  on  May  1.    He was
released from the hospital on May 18.

   Butler has refused to talk with reporters  since  his  arrest.
He  heads  the group formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ
Christian (Aryan Nations).

   U.S. Attorney Michael Fitzhugh said Monday that the government
will ask that Butler's bond remain at $100,000, pending trial.

   Butler and the others indicted in April now are  scheduled  to
stand  trial  beginning  July 6 on charges that they conspired to
overthrow the U.S. government.   The  trial  is  expected  to  be
postponed at least a few months.

   The  Justice  Department has said it wants to prosecute all of
the defendants together.

   Three of the 15 defendants are in  custody  in  Denver,  where
they  also  face federal civil rights charges in the 1985 machine
gun killing of Jewish talk-show host Alan Berg.

   
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