COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A city council candidate in Hayden, Idaho, will be in court Monday on charges of hate crimes for punching a Mexican man in the face.
Aryan Nations candidate Zachary Loren Beck reportedly asked John A. Albright if he was Mexican before he hauled off and punched him the face Friday, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reported Sunday.
Beck lives with Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler, the newspaper said. Butler, 85, is running for Hayden mayor while another follower, Karl Gharst, is also vying for City Council.
Butler, the self-proclaimed pastor of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, said the campaign is probably his final attempt to spread the Aryan Nations message of white supremacy, the newspaper said.
Beck, meanwhile, was charged with felony malicious harassment because the attack was considered a hate crime. During a jailhouse interview with the Spokesman-Review, Beck claimed he was set up by another candidate who does not share his extremist views.
