Exposing Anti-Mormon Bigotry: Lunatic Fringe Conspiracy Blogger Blames The Conviction Of Edgar Steele On "The Mormons"

A recent photo of Edgar Steele

One of the objectives of this blog is to expose flagrant anti-Mormon bigotry whenever it appears. While anti-Mormon bigotry has abated steadily since it became seriously manifested during Mitt Romney's first Presidential campaign, thanks in part to the Church's efforts to reach out more sympathetically towards gays and to better balance service and proselytization, it still exists. Fringe Republican Presidential candidate Fred Karger's campaign is anchored in anti-Mormon bigotry.

But anti-Mormon bigotry rages on amongst some conspiracy theorists. A flagrant example is the lunatic conspiracy blog Zionist Gold Report, which now blames the conviction of Edgar Steele in Idaho on "the Mormons". To wit:

WASP cults and Crypto Hebrews and Zionist fanatics, that is all the Mormons will ever be to me. The perfect state stooges. Granted they needed empty headed and corrupt Mormon Females and probably a corrupt cop to do it and who knows how much they paid the Judge to rule everything Edgar wanted to present as 'inadmissible'. Disgusting. Pray for Edgar he is in the belly of the Anglosaxon-Zionist-Mormon beast. Shocking. Sickening. What a hate filled country of lies America has become and it starts with the Engbrew nation and their insane darkened minds and spirits.

A completely rigged trial.

One problem here is that there are nuggets of truth embedded within a web of conspiracy lies. An examination of more reliable sources indicate that the judge and the prosecution may have shown bias against Edgar Steele; Judge B. Winmill disallowed the testimony of the two audio experts who were retained to show that the audio tapes purportedly indicating that Edgar Steele was trying to convince Federal informant Larry Fairfax to murder his wife (Cyndi Steele) were tampered with. Challenging the authenticity of the tapes was a cornerstone in the defense strategy, and the audio tapes may have ultimately swayed the jury to convict Steele. Ironically, Edgar Steele's most powerful advocate during the trial was the same Cyndi Steele who the government alleged was Edgar's target

But to blame "the Mormons" for the conviction is ludicrous. The religious affiliation of the jurors was not disclosed, and although Idaho has the highest percentage of Mormons outside of Utah, the bulk of that strength is in southeast Idaho. It thins out as one approaches Boise. Furthermore, it would not matter if the majority of jurors were Mormons; the Twelfth Article of Faith, "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law" remains operative as jurors take an oath to judge the case by the facts. Furthermore, Edgar Steele was not known to be anti-Mormon, so why would a "Mormon" jury have an axe to grind against him?

In the final analysis, the real reason why the jury convicted Edgar Steele was that they believed the prosecution more than the defense, and that the prosecution proved their case beyond reasonable doubt.

Continuing the discussion of the Edgar Steele case here is beyond the parameters of this blog. For those who want more information on the case, I recommend the following sources, which combined will provide a bigger picture from a number of perspectives:

-- Free Edgar Steele: The official advocacy website on behalf of Edgar Steele
-- American Free Press: A brief story about the trial and the issues. I actually recommend this as the starting point if you know nothing about this case.
-- Spokane Spokesman-Review: A series of posts about the trial by a media blogger who was in attendance.
-- White Reference: A white nationalist blog which contains daily summaries of the trial extracted and consolidated from multiple media sources; includes numerous media links.
-- SPLC Hatewatch: The Southern Poverty Law Center's report; note that the SPLC has a pronounced left-wing bias, but they are the pre-eminent anti-racist resource.