Hatewatch Tweets
Hatewatch is managed by the staff of the Intelligence Report, an investigative magazine published by the Alabama-based civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.
Neo-Nazi Activist Gets 40 Years for Arizona Mail Bombing
Notorious racist Dennis Mahon will spend the next 40 years in prison – and likely die behind bars – for sending a mail bomb that exploded in 2004 and injured the diversity officer for Scottsdale, Ariz.
In handing down the sentence Tuesday in Phoenix, U.S. District Judge David Campbell said Mahon, 61, carried out an act of domestic terrorism when he mailed the potentially deadly pipe bomb to the office of Don Logan.
Federal prosecutors asked for a 63-year sentence for the former Ku Klux Klan leader and longtime associate of Tom Metzger, founder of White Aryan Resistance.
Mahon was convicted Feb. 24 of conspiracy to damage buildings and property with explosives; malicious damage of a building by means of explosives; and distribution of information related to explosives. His twin brother, Daniel Mahon, was acquitted on a single federal charge of conspiracy to damage buildings and property.
The pipe bomb was delivered on Feb. 26, 2004, to Don Logan, an African American who was then director of the Office of Diversity and Dialogue for the city of Scottsdale, near Phoenix. The bomb exploded when he opened the package, badly injuring him. Two other employees sustained lesser injuries.
“I wasn’t supposed to survive that attack, but it charted my course that people deserve equal justice, equal treatment,” Logan said in court, according to The Arizona Republic. Logan retired from his Scottsdale job in 2007 and now works in Glendale, Ariz.
The mostly white jury determined the bombing was not a hate crime, and the judge defended that finding at the sentencing hearing.
“The jury was never asked if this was a hate crime,” the judge said, according to the Phoenix newspaper. Instead, the judge said the jury was asked a narrow question of whether Logan was targeted because he was black.
Dennis Mahon continued to maintain his innocence before he was sentenced, telling the judge, “I didn’t do this crime. I can’t apologize for something I didn’t do.”
There’s a lot of convincing evidence to the contrary, federal prosecutors say. In their sentencing memorandum filed last week, prosecutors reminded the court of other details of the crime “that justify the maximum sentence.”
Mahon clearly “attempted to kill another person,” the sentencing memorandum says, by sending an “instrument of attempted murder to a workplace filled with other individuals.”
“The amount of premeditation in this case is stunning,” the court document says.
Mahon bought generic parts from different locations in an apparent attempt to confuse investigators trying to determine the origin of the improvised explosive device. The bomb-builder also included a note and “attached labels to lure the victim into a false sense of security.” He also devised a switch and packing to ensure the bomb was not detected before it detonated.
Maybe thinking he, too, might die if police came to arrest him, Mahon “wrote a will to memorialize that his actions were in memory of Bob Mathews and Timothy McVeigh,” the document says.
It goes on to say the bombing victims “were innocent civilians serving their community. Donald Logan and Renita Linyard will suffer the physical effects of the bombing every day for the rest of their lives. All of the bombing victims, including Jacque Bell, will endure the psychological effects of the bombing. Donald Logan in particular will never open a package without the instant reminder of the bombing.”
Mahon “did not merely speak in the abstract in favor of violence, he conspired to and committed actual acts of violence,” the prosecutor’s sentencing memo says.
The sentence “makes clear that such acts of violence will not be tolerated in Arizona,” Thomas Atteberry, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, said in a statement released after sentencing.
“We will continue to use every tool in our arsenal to put criminal hate-mongers on notice – no matter how long it takes – they are not beyond our reach,” Atteberry said.
One of those “not beyond” reach may be Mahon’s longtime mentor, Metzger, the white supremacist icon and racist ideologue who espouses “lone wolf” extremism.
As Hatewatch reported in early April, court records filed in three states show that investigators strongly suspect Metzger provided Mahon with explosive-making instructions, knowing they would be used in the commission of a crime of violence.
on May 24th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Metzger should be locked up, along with Dennis Mahon….and Mahon’s brother, Daniel, probably also needs “watching.”
on May 24th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Just goes to show: never trust a girl who has a picture of herself with a hand grenade between her breasts. Ha!
on May 26th, 2012 at 12:43 am
Why doesn’t HATEWATCH cover all incidents of EXTREMISM = Right and Left –
for the good of our country – if that is the reason for it.
“Equality” in reporting on Extremism – would be more effective.
on May 26th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
@Brenda Landry – What’s preventing you from starting your own blog and reporting what you’d like to see here?
on May 26th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Hey Brenda, you’re a dolt.
How about you read ANY OF THE PREVIOUS ARTICLES???
And if you can find any leftist organizations akin to the Klan, please bring them to our attention. We would be MOST interested.
(Damned trolls.)
on May 26th, 2012 at 11:31 pm
Ok Brenda, tell us some examples of “left-wing” extremism the SPLC should cover. You really think you’re the first conservative genius who came in here, not reading anything but the first page, and writing something like that?
on May 27th, 2012 at 6:49 pm
Get a clue, Brenda. What part of “Keeping an Eye on the Radical Right” do you find mystifying? Perhaps you could be so kind as to provide an example of extremists that you find absent here?
on May 30th, 2012 at 11:26 am
The SPLC does cover left-wing extremism. They classify hateful extremist groups such as the Nuwaubians and the New Black Panther Party as hate groups. These groups clearly have a far-left ideology, with New Age beliefs and a firm anti-capitalist stance.
on May 30th, 2012 at 11:48 am
Alan,
True. The SPLC has covered Left-wing extremists, but it’s very rare. If you perform a lexis nexis news search you will find the number of stories the SPLC has covering Left-wing groups is tiny. Probably 99.9% of their stories cover Right-wing groups. More importantly are the lawsuits they file. They have never filed suit for millions of dollars against a Left-wing group on behalf of a victim of violence. For example, ARA thugs recently beat up a group of white people in a restaurant in Chicago. The SPLC will not sue ARA. They could. But they won’t. I’d like the victims to get millions of dollars. It will never happen though.
on May 30th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Hmmm. The latest iteration of ‘Jason Smith’ is claiming that the SPLC HAS reported on leftist groups. This is clearly contradicting his previous statements.
HOW MANY JASON SMITHS ARE THERE? (I’m guess three or four.)
on May 30th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Aron,
Nope. No contradiction here. You’re just confused. And yes, it’s just me. I’m the only one posting here under my name. Now go run and tell mama.
on May 30th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Aron, we’ve been there before. He’s a committee.
on May 30th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
The New Black Panther Party isn’t leftist. That was the old Black Panther Party.
on May 30th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Rey,
I was simply bringing up the fact again. And I very much agree with you: the writing styles and contents are far too variable to simply be one person.
However, I am surprised he actually addressed my point for once!
on May 30th, 2012 at 4:14 pm
Maybe there are several different people named Jason Smith posting under their names – all of whom are right wingers.
I mean, its a common enough name to be true.
on May 30th, 2012 at 7:48 pm
I support the speculation that “Jason Smith” is a committee. No individual with an ounce of self respect or dignity would continue to post such serial idiocy in the face of universal criticism. So, in that vein, I welcome the new “Jason”. I hope you are smarter than the last one.
on May 30th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
But against the theory of committee is the fact that within such a group, there ought to be one person who can actually defend the concepts they are promoting against our attacks. Jason cannot debate at all. This supports the hypothesis that it is simply an impotent wannabe troll.
on May 31st, 2012 at 8:41 am
Ruslan, what makes you think a committee must include even one intelligent person? And fifty 1/50th brains do not one whole brain make.