HELENA-WEST HELENA -- Jeffrey Knox, a member of the New Aryan Empire organization whose members were indicted last year on accusations of trafficking in narcotics, intimidating witnesses and carrying out violent acts in the Russellville area, pleaded guilty Thursday to being part of racketeering and methamphetamine trafficking conspiracies involving murder.
U.S. District Judge Brian Miller presided over the hearing from a federal courtroom in Helena-West Helena while Knox participated from jail.
Videoconference hearings are encouraged in the Eastern District of Arkansas to help control the spread of the covid-19 pandemic.
As with a hearing in the case conducted late last month, few details behind the charges emerged publicly. Miller told Knox that a lengthy statement of what prosecutors hoped to prove, had Knox decided to go to trial, wouldn't be read in the courtroom but would be filed under seal, as it has in other plea hearings by defendants in the case.
Ordinarily, federal prosecutors read aloud at plea hearings what they feel they could prove at trial, and then the defendant, who is listening, states whether he or she agrees with the facts. Those who don't agree aren't allowed to plead guilty.
Stipulated facts were read aloud in the courtroom included between 2014 and Sept. 3, 2019, Knox and others agreed to possess and distribute about 500 grams of methamphetamine. A plea agreement states racketeering activities attributable to Knox "include acts involving murder; tampering with a witness, victim or informant; retaliation against a witness, victim or informant; and narcotics trafficking."
The agreement cites "three acts" in 2015 and 2016 involving a conspiracy or solicitation to commit murder. It also specifically mentions a Jan. 4, 2016, attempted murder, but doesn't name the victim or victims.