Klansman who turned priest paid no penance

The $26,000 that a federal judge ordered a member of the Ku Klux Klan to pay in 1982 to an African-American couple and two Jewish groups for a series of crossburnings is no longer legally collectible because the statute of limitations has expired, legal experts say.

The former Klansman, William Marx Aitcheson, is now a Catholic priest in Fairfax, Va., and never paid the $26,000.

He pleaded guilty to the cross-burnings in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in 1977, records show, and was sued in federal court in Maryland the following year by some of the victims, including Barbara and Phillip Butler of College Park, Md.

In 1982, U.S. District Judge Frank Kaufman of Baltimore granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs, awarding the Butlers $23,000, and $1,500 each to Beth Torah Congregation and B’nai Brith Hillel Foundation of College Park.

All three parties said they never received any money from Aitcheson, and never heard from him again. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1988, and has been serving as a pastor in Virginia since 1993.

There is no statute of limitations in federal law for civil judgments, so the state law where the case was heard determines the time limit, legal experts said. Under Maryland law, civil judgments expire after 12 years. In 1994, as the 12-year mark was approaching in Aitcheson’s case, the lawyer for the Butlers had the judgment renewed in federal court for another 12 years.

But that renewal expired in 2006.

“The judgment has expired and therefore is not enforceable,” said David J. Cook, the author of a book on debt collection and lawyer for the Fred Goldman family seeking payment from O.J. Simpson for their civil judgment against him. “However, the expired judgment is still a moral and ethical obligation. If this guy’s a Catholic priest, he’s under an ecclesiastical obligation to pay that.”

Cook said someone could still sue Aitcheson to enforce the judgment, and see if Aitcheson invokes the statute of limitations.

“His lawyer will tell him, ‘the press is going to crucify you,’ ” Cook said. “As a moral, ethical and act of fidelity to repentance, the defendant should waive the statute of limitation, stipulate to the revival of the judgment and pay something, even $50 a month. Putting money in the hands of another by other means.”

Other lawyers familiar with Maryland, federal and collections law agreed that the statute of limitations on such a judgment is 12 years.

The Butlers’ lawyer, Ted Williams, said, “This case will proceed in two courts: the court of law and the court of public opinion. While the priest may or may not have a legal obligation, he certainly has a moral obligation. We will be seeking fulfillment of both obligations.” is penance