Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Imprisoned white supremacist denied liver transplant

The Aryan Warriors' reputed leader in Nevada, Ronald "Joey" Sellers (shown in his 1991 booking mug), is serving a life sentence.

The Aryan Warriors' reputed leader in Nevada, Ronald "Joey" Sellers (shown in his 1991 booking mug), is serving a life sentence.

A federal court judge today denied a request from an imprisoned white supremacist to receive a liver transplant.

Defense attorneys for Ronald "Joey" Sellers, the reputed leader of the Aryan Warriors prison gang, said the transplant was necessary to save his life.

Judge Kent Dawson said two hospitals have considered placing Sellers, 41, on a transplant list but found it was unnecessary.

The University of Southern California Norris Cancer Hospital did not accept Sellers as a transplant candidate and the USC Medical Center examined Sellers and determined he was "not sick enough" to warrant a transplant, federal prosecutors wrote in opposing the procedure.

His attorneys first tried to have the court order the U.S. Marshals Service to add his name to a donor list in December. Sellers' counsel now says he needs a transplant as soon as it can be arranged.

Sellers has cirrhosis caused by hepatitis C, which he claims he acquired about 10-12 years ago from unsanitary conditions in the Nevada State Prison in Ely, according to court documents. Sellers also has a fist-size hernia and is in constant pain requiring medication.

In their opposition, prosecutors wrote that Sellers is receiving treatment. Attorneys for Sellers declined to comment following today's hearing.

Sellers is the last of 14 defendants to be tried on federal racketeering charges. The gang operates throughout the Nevada prison system to corrupt guards, distribute narcotics and uses violence, according to court records. The others pleaded guilty or were convicted earlier this year.

Sellers also faces a murder charge for the slaying of inmate Anthony Beltran in 2006 in the state prison in Ely.

He is imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in Southern California. His trial is on hold while prosecutors weigh options of going through the complicated death penalty process for a man who may not survive his trial.

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