2009 - May 2010: White Supremacist Church Member Acquitted of Shooting Hispanic Teenager

Allen Michael Goff, a member of the Creativity Movement (see 2009) from Billings, Montana, is charged with felony assault with a weapon after shooting a Hispanic teenager in the leg after a party. Goff, 17, is charged as an adult because prosecutors say the shooting is racially motivated. When the court refuses to allow evidence of Goff’s membership in the Creativity Movement to be introduced in his trial, Goff pleads guilty to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon, and a jury acquits him of the felony charge. He is given six months’ probation and fined $150. Two days after the verdict, Goff confronts Travis McAdam, executive director of the Montana Human Rights Network, who is presiding over an exhibit featuring the literature and beliefs of the Creativity Movement. Goff accuses McAdam of ruining his life. “We’ve always felt he was one of the ringleaders,” McAdam says. “I think what that encounter showed everyone is that he’s going to feel more emboldened now.” [Southern Poverty Law Center, 2010]