NEXT ON THE WHITE POWER CHOPPING BLOCK: MELISSA HACK

Anti-Racist Action (ARA) is going to love this. Melissa Hack is the boyfriend of John “Polar Bear” Butler, the only person ever charged, convicted and sentenced to death (sentence since overturned in 2004) for the July 4, 1998 murders of Daniel Shersty and Lin “Spit” Newborn, both ARA members from Las Vegas, NV. Hack is also the brother of Hammerskin member Ross Hack, who went on to hold a rather raucous white supremacist rally in 2008 where someone was almost killed. That put Ross in the crosshairs, and last year fallout from the Dan and Spit murders landed him in jail for three years for lying on a passport application around that time. Now it is Melissa’s turn. Back then, she was suspected of luring Dan and Spit into the desert where they were killed, but she was never charged with a crime. Well, now she is – one count of making a false statement. We should note that there are others out there that were involved in the killings, and after over a decade this is the first time there has been some new movement on the case, and an old article on the Internet Anti-Fascist provides us with a chronology of events and the list of suspects that are still out there, among them Ross and Melissa Hack. Let’s see what happens from here.

Las Vegas Review-Journal

A new criminal case against the former girlfriend of a convicted murderer reveals that federal authorities are investigating the 1998 shooting deaths of two men who opposed racial prejudice.

Clark County prosecutors contended long ago that Melissa Hack helped lure the two victims to the desert, where they were ambushed and fatally shot, but she was never charged in connection with the high-profile murders.

A sealed complaint, listing one count of making a false statement, was filed against Hack, 34, in July. It has since been unsealed and replaced with a federal indictment on the same charge.

“What’s happening here is they have been unable to piece the case together, because we all know if they had enough evidence against her, they’d charge her,” said Hack’s attorney, Brent Bryson. “They don’t, so they’re putting the squeeze on her in other ways, trying to make her feel the pressure.”

The prosecutors listed on the indictment are Avner Shapiro, a trial attorney with the Justice Department’s civil rights division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Bliss. Trial is set for March 1.

Fred Merrick, a Las Vegas police violent crimes section detective, prepared the complaint against Hack. According to the document, he was deputized about a year earlier as a temporary federal agent to work with the FBI on the 1998 cold case, which occurred on federal land and “involved subjects… identified with one or more neo-Nazi Skinhead groups.”

Hack’s former boyfriend, John “Polar Bear” Butler, 38, was the only person charged with the murders. He was convicted in Clark County District Court and sentenced to die, but the death sentence was overturned. He’s serving a life sentence at High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs.

Butler was a leader of the Independent Nazi Skins when he participated in the murders of Lin Newborn, 25, and Daniel Shersty, 21. Prosecutors theorize that the victims were killed because they were members of a skinhead group that opposed racial prejudice, and have said the victims were lured into the desert early on July 4, 1998 by Hack and another, unidentified woman Newborn met while working at Tribal Body Piercing.

Newborn and Shersty went to the desert near Powerline Road and Centennial Parkway expecting to party but instead were shot, prosecutors said. “John Butler didn’t do it alone,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said in 2003. “At this point, we have not amassed sufficient evidence to charge anyone else, but the statute of limitations for murder never runs out.”

On Friday, Laurent said he was unaware of the ongoing federal investigation.

“The district attorney’s office has not received any additional information that would allow us to proceed on anyone else for these murders,” he said.

According to the federal complaint, “The investigation identified several subjects who were suspected of luring the victims into the desert the night they were killed.”

In the new complaint, Merrick noted that Hack associated with the Independent Nazi Skins. Hack’s brother Ross, also a neo-Nazi skinhead, and others in the group were feuding with Newborn, he wrote. “Based upon the investigation into the murders, (Melissa) Hack is considered to be a subject.”

According to the new federal complaint, Melissa Hack met June 16 with a Nevada parole officer supervising her on unrelated narcotics charges.

Merrick and FBI Special Agent Kevin Sheehan were there to question her about the murders and to collect fingerprints and DNA pursuant to a federal search warrant. When asked if she had her cell phone with her, Melissa Hack said she had left it at work and that a friend, who was waiting in the lobby, had driven her to the parole office.

The parole officer then talked to the man who had given Melissa Hack a ride and learned that she had put something in the center console of his car. The phone had stored photos of Melissa Hack and “numerous additional individuals she visibly appeared to associate with. Some of the individuals bore tattoos or signs and symbols that could be relevant to the 1998 murder investigation.”

Bryson said the federal charge against his client, who works for her father’s vitamin company, amounts to a “thin case” filed in retaliation for her perceived lack of cooperation during the murder investigation.

“If she continues to be harassed, many options are being considered…” the lawyer said. “It’s pretty well known I handle a lot of civil rights lawsuits.”

However, Bryson added, “At this point, I have nothing to demonstrate that the government is acting in bad faith.”

A federal judge in Los Angeles last year sentenced Ross Hack to three years in prison for lying on a passport application while under investigation in the double murder case. He came under scrutiny in January 2008, after he was identified as an organizer of a white supremacist rally in Las Vegas where an individual was assaulted and nearly killed.

Chronology Of Events (From the Internet Anti-Fascist, Feb. 22, 2000)

Evening, July 3, 98
Melissa Hack comes into Spit’s workplace, a piercing salon. (She in on
videotape and the clothes she was wearing are later found by police at her
home.) One witness says they saw the two making plans to meet up later.

11:30-12pm, July 3, 98
Last time that Dan & Spit’s friends see or hear from them.

8-9am, July 4, 98
Three men driving in the desert on ATVs come across Dan’s body, lying in a
pool of blood in front of his car. They see three people a little further
off the road. The three are later identified as John Butler, Melissa Hack,
and Joseph Justin.

Butler, Hack & Justin pretend that they have also just ‘found’ the body and
leave the scene without giving any information about themselves to the
ATVers. However, the ATVers record their license plate number. Then they
call the cops and the search of the area begins.

Meanwhile, police are questioning ARA folks who are concerned that Spit is
missing.

July 6, 98
Police find Spit’s body.

Police interview Jane Hack, Melissa’s mother, having traced the license
plate of the car seen earlier to her. She identifies the three who used the
car on July 4. Police check files for all three and confirm that Butler,
Melissa Hack and her brother Ross Hack, all have a history of involvement
with nazi groups.

July 7, 98
Police impound the ca
r for forensics tests.

July 14, 98
The gang squad has been instructed to look for Butler & Justin. He and
Joseph Justin are spotted and Butler runs. Cops claim that he drops a gun
as he tries to evade them. They take Justin in for questioning, about the
morning of July 4. Later that night they arrest Butler (with help of K-9
and helicopter!), and question him too.

Justin’s interview is taped. He says that he went out to the desert on July
4 because Butler and Melissa Hack asked him to help them retrieve shotgun
shells and a beer bottle.

Butler’s original interview is not taped. He says that they were going to
shoot off fireworks.

Butler is sent to jail on previous warrants. His cellmates are Richard Lee
Fishburn, Steve Barlow and Kevin English. According to Fishburn, Butler
confessed to “offing” two SHARPs.
July 15, 98
Police have checked the gun they found the day before. It matches bullets
that killed Dan & Spit. They interview Butler again about the morning of
July 4, on tape. This time, he says that Ross Hack had asked Melissa to
clean up the murder site. He says that he went with her, just because she
was his girlfriend and he didn’t want her getting into trouble on her own.

When confronted with forensics evidence linking his gun to the murders,
Butler stops talking.

July 18, 98
Funerals for Dan & Spit. ARA holds their first press conference about the
murders.

August 29, 98
ARA demonstration.

Joseph Justin — the nazi whose statement to police incriminates John
Butler and Melissa Hack — is threatened, his home shot up by unknown
assailants (presumed to be nazis).

September 8, 98
Butler charged with two counts of murder.

January 7, 99
Preliminary hearing in murder trial. Fishburn testifies about Butler’s
jailhouse confession.

Justin is a witness, and tries to backtrack on his previous statement to
police about the morning of July 4. He talks about threatening phone calls
he and his mother have been getting and also expresses his reluctance to
testify.

July 4, 99
(This is the anniversary of the murders.) White power concert held in
desert outside of Vegas. Neo-nazi boast that more than 50 boneheads attend,
and more are turned away by police intimidation. Bands included
Intimidation One from Portland, Oregon.

August 16, 99
As part of plea bargain deal on an unrelated case, Joseph Justin makes a
further statement to police about the murders. He says that John Butler
confessed to him that he and Ross Hack were responsible for the murders,
and that Melissa Hack set up the ambush.

August 29, 99
Dissatisfied with the progress of the investigation, the ARA Network
mobilizes for a second demonstration on the Strip.

November, 99
Preliminary hearing continues. Joseph Justin wins the right to give
evidence by videotape, citing concerns about his safety.

– – – – –

The Known Suspects

John Edward Butler a.k.a. ‘Polar Bear’, ‘Jackie’
Member of the “Independent Nazi Skins”.
Boyfriend of Melissa Hack.
Police Informant.
Ex-con.
Born December 25, 1971.
Place of Birth Orange County CA.
To date only person charged in connection with the murders.
Currently incarcerated.

Connections to murders:
The gun used in the murder was found upon his arrest July 14, 1998. He
confessed murders to cellmate Richard Lee Fishburn. Joseph Justin also
claims that he confessed to him.

He was at scene of the murders on July 4, 1998 (the morning after). Butler
initially claimed to have gone to the scene of the crimes on the morning of
July 4 to shoot off fireworks, but he later revised his alibi saying he had
gone there at the request of Ross Hack to collect and destroy evidence.

* * * * *

Joseph Justin
Friend of Melissa Hack and John Butler.
Residence listed as 3829 Boca Chica, Las Vegas Nevada.

Connection to the case:
Justin was at the scene of the crime the morning after the murders.
According to his statements to police, he went with Butler and Melissa Hack
to retrieve evidence at the murder scene.

He was with Butler when Butler was arrested. At the January 99 preliminary
hearing, he testified as a state witness that he went to the scene of the
murder at the request of Butler. As part of an August 99 plea bargain on an
unrelated case, he further implicated John Butler, Ross Hack and Melissa
Hack.

Concerns:
Joseph Justin was clearly involved in these murders, at least as an
accessory after the fact. He is being shielded from prosecution in exchange
for his testimony against Butler. But prosecutors arenít using his evidence
against Melissa Hack and Ross Hack.

* * * * *

Melissa Hack
Member Independent Nazi Skins.
Girlfriend of John Butler.
Sister of Ross Hack.
Residence listed as 6550 Mesa Vista Avenue, Las Vegas NV (her mother’s
home).

Connections to murders:
Melissa Hack was scene at the scene of the crime the morning after the
murders in her mother’s car accompanied by suspects John Butler and Joseph
Justin. According to Butler and Justin the three had gone to the scene at
the request of Ross Hack to collect evidence left behind including shot gun
shells and a beer bottle. It is not clear how they could have found the
scene if none of them had been there before.

A security videotape shows that Melissa Hack visited Spit at his workplace
earlier in the day of July 3, and the outfit she was wearing that night was
discovered at her home days later during a police search. According to
Joseph Justin and another witness who saw her at Spit’s workplace that
evening, she set up the desert rendezvous.

Concerns:
Melissa Hack was clearly involved in these murders. Police have named her
as a suspect, but have not laid charges. Bringing Melissa Hack to justice
is one of the primary goals of ARA’s education campaign around this case.

* * * * *

Ross Hack
Brother of Melissa Hack.
History of involvement with Nazi movement.
Residence listed as 6550 Mesa Vista Blvd, Las Vegas NV (his mother’s home).
During the course of the investigation, Hack left the U.S. and traveled to
Europe.

Connection to the murders:
According to Joseph Justin, John Butler confessed that he and Ross Hack
committed the murders. According to both Justin and Robert Butler, Ross
Hack directed them to go to the crime scene and retrieve evidence (shotgun
shells & a beer bottle) on the morning after the murders.

Concerns:
We are concerned that although he was a suspect in this case, he was
allowed to leave the country.