Flathead Beacon columnist Dave Skinner has no evidence to back up his smears against me and others (April 6: “The Aryan Invasion”) involved in the production of the Investigation Discovery documentary “Hate in America: A Town on Fire.”
Skinner levels three charges, which are so serious that you’d think he would have facts to back them up. But he doesn’t.
Although Skinner hasn’t seen the film, he claims that it presents a “slanted view” that Kalispell is “in the throes of an Aryan invasion leading to a fascist, racist takeover of society.” That is as silly as it is false.
In fact, Emmy-winning journalist and former CNN anchor Tony Harris, who hosts the documentary, states that “most Flathead residents do not sign onto extremist views. Those belong to a small but vocal minority in an otherwise stunning and welcoming part of America.” And I wrote in The Huffington Post before the documentary aired on March 24 that the “the liberty-loving people” of the Flathead Valley “should not all be judged by a few white supremacists like David Lenio or by the head-scratching actions (or inactions) of prosecutor Ed Corrigan and Judge Heidi Ulbricht.”
Contrary to Skinner’s claims, I have never had a financial motive or benefit for my involvement. In fact, I have acted only as a concerned dad and a concerned citizen from the time I reported Lenio’s threats to shoot grade school kids like “sitting ducks,” “put two in the head of a rabbi,” and keep shooting “until cops take me out, too.”
There has been a lot of back-and-forth about the details of this case and key facts have been garbled in all the spin. But let’s be clear about the stakes. On December 30, 2014, the day that Lenio moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Kalispell, he tweeted that he wanted to go on a Sandy Hook-style shooting spree “in a Kalispell, MT, elementary school.”
Finally, Skinner claims that I and other human rights activists sought a free speech-intimidating “show trial.” But anyone who can Google can learn that, in fact, I am a free speech advocate who has praised Lenio’s defense attorney and affirmed Lenio’s right to free speech, a zealous defense, and his presumption of innocence. Before the documentary aired, I wrote in the aforementioned Huffington Post page-one piece that Skinner somehow managed to miss, “Everyone accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty and is entitled to nothing less.”
The First Amendment protects unpopular, crude, and controversial speech. But it does not protect such speech acts as libel, defamation, false advertising, extortion, and true threats of violence that would make a reasonable person fear for their safety.
The undisputed fact is the day after I reported Lenio’s threats, he retrieved rifles and ammunition from his storage locker. He also had a loaded semi-automatic handgun with him in his van at the time of his arrest – along with extra ammo and jugs of urine. I urged a fair and public trial instead of the backroom deal we got.
Jonathan Hutson lives in Gambrills, Maryland.
