Gruver V. IKA
In July 2006, 3 IKA members beat Jordan Gruver, a 16-year-old of Native American and Panamanian descent at a Kentucky county fair. In February 2007, IKA members Jarred Hensley and Andrew Watkins were convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for beating Gruver. The Southern Poverty Law Center also filed a civil suit on Gruver's behalf in Meade County, Kentucky against IKA "Imperial Wizard" Ron Edwards and the IKA for the actions of the IKA members. Morris Dees, together with William F. McMurry of Louisville, KY, represented Jordan Gruver in the trial against the IKA. On November 14, 2008, an all-white jury of seven men and seven women awarded $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages to Gruver against Edwards. Edwards appealed the ruling, but his appeal was ultimately denied by the Kentucky Supreme Court in early 2012.
During the case, the SPLC received nearly a dozen threats "promising the most dangerous threat" ever faced. A July 2007 letter allegedly came from Hal Turner, a white supremacist talk show host. In 2007, Terrence was shown on CNN speaking at an event on the IKA Headquarters' grounds. On the second day of the civil trial, a former member of the IKA testified that the Klan had told him to kill Southern Poverty Law Center chief attorney Morris Dees.
Read more about this topic: Imperial Klans Of America