A report by The Washington Monthly notes that the ongoing trial of four Baltimore rap promoters for murder, racketeering, weapons possession and illegal drug distribution has been stalled for years by the defendants' use of sovereign-citizen defense tactics. The four men — Willie Mitchell, 30, Shelly Wayne Martin, 31, Shawn Gardner, 30, and Shelton Harris, 25 — face life in prison but continually disrupt hearings, firing their lawyers and launching lengthy tirades about how they are neither defendants nor subject to the jurisdiction of the court. The four men mount a defense based on the claim that the court is only prosecuting their "straw men," or legal twins, and holds no authority over their "flesh and blood" persons.
Four years after pre-trial hearings began in 2004, the African-American defendants continue to tie up courts using fringe legal theories developed by white supremacists that assault the legitimacy of the 14th Amendment, which gave full citizenship to freed slaves. The irony is not lost on presiding U.S. District Court Judge Andre Davis. "You have invoked ideas formulated and advanced by people who think less of you than they think of dirt," Davis says at one point to defendant Shawn Gardner. "The extremists who have concocted these ideas that you are now advancing in this courtroom are laughing their heads off… . When you complete this [legal] suicide, they will honor you because you are doing their work, better and more effectively than any of them ever dreamed they could do."
I sat down, and they said on the back of your Social Security card, there's a number. That number indicates the bank that bought you when you were born based on a projection of your life's earnings, and you are collateral. We are all collateral for the banks. I have this look like, "What the heck are you talking about?" I'm trying to hide that look and look clueless. I figured clueless was better than argumentative. So they said, "You don't know this?! You are a member of Congress, and you don't know this?!" And I said, "Please forgive me. I'm just ignorant of these things." And then of course, it turned into something about the Federal Reserve and the Bilderbergers and all that stuff. And now you have the feeling of anti-Semitism here coming in, mixing in. Wow.posted by meehawl at 12:17 PM on August 3, 2010
When a new family moved into the mansion on South Goddard Road in south DeKalb County, residents just assumed they were “city folks” too busy to meet neighbors. Georgia Power and the water company came out, but 87-year-old Helen Goddard never saw the residents. “We know everyone around here. But they were quiet, no knocking on the door to introduce themselves,” said Goddard, whose husband’s family has lived in the area for centuries and are the namesake for the road. The only time Goddard saw her next-door neighbors was when they were being led off in handcuffs. Prosecutors say the $1 million brick home next to the Goddards’ farmhouse is one of at least 19 properties that have been taken over by a sect of anti-government extremists involved in criminal behavior. They call themselves “sovereign citizens” and believe they are immune to state and federal laws. They assert, among other things, that banks can’t own land and that any home owned by a bank – including the thousands throughout Georgia – is free for the taking.posted by meehawl at 1:41 PM on August 19, 2010
"The FBI says the national movement has been around for decades and has ties to the Nuwaubians, a black supremacist group that started near Augusta. Nationally, sovereign citizens, which originated as a white supremacist group, have been connected to multiple insurance fraud and tax evasion scams, along with some violent crimes." - from the preceding "paper terrorists" articleThis illustrates the bizarre incompetence of the FBI in dealing with these white nationalist movements, the first thing they do is dredge up some minority copy-cat and make that the lead. They did exactly the same thing in the infamous Megiddio Report. the fact that they are still doing this means the vulnerability to attacks is something the FBI is unable to address.
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posted by blucevalo at 12:50 PM on August 1, 2010 [1 favorite]