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Wednesday, June 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Meetings of the Sovereign People's Court for the United States of America were held in this back room of a printing business until the FBI raided it in March.
Sun Archives
Beyond the Sun
Members of the anti-government sovereign citizens movement have a reputation for flooding the courts with frivolous paperwork, and that’s exactly what two of the movement’s leading ideologues are doing in their federal money laundering case.
“They have an endless bag of tricks,” said Mark Pitcavage, the national director of investigative research for the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors extremist groups. “They either try to clog up the case, or they try to retaliate against people involved in the process. These guys are true believers. They’ll drag it out until the bitter end.”
In court documents last month, federal prosecutors said trial preparations were “not moving forward in the ordinary course” because of the legal strategies mounted by the defendants.
One of the defendants, Samuel Davis, for example, filed court papers disavowing his name, under which he was charged, and is now calling himself “I am: Sam.” Pitcavage says sovereign citizens often use this kind of tactic to slow down court cases.
The other defendant, Shawn Rice, has filed more than a dozen motions and other court papers, all of which have been rejected by a federal magistrate and ordered returned because Rice filed them without the knowledge of his court-appointed attorney, Michael Kimbrell.
U.S. District Judge James Mahan, who is presiding over the case, denied another motion Rice filed under seal after concluding there was nothing to Rice’s claims that his argument in the motion related to “financial national security.”
Court records show that as late as last month, Kimbrell had been unable to get in touch with Rice to prepare his defense in the money laundering case, which the government contends is the result of a three-year undercover investigation of the activities of the sovereign citizens movement. Kimbrell did not return phone calls from the Sun.
Asked why he hasn’t spoken with Kimbrell, Rice responded, “Did I hire him? I didn’t hire him.” Then he said, “Have a nice day” and hung up his cell phone.
Todd Leventhal, the court-appointed attorney for Davis, would not comment on his client’s name-change in court records.
But Leventhal described Davis as a “brilliant man,” saying he has a “fantastic” working relationship with him.
“I’m not here to stand in Mr. Davis’ way of filing motions he deems are legal and factual,” Leventhal said. “Until the judge says otherwise, it’s his case right now. I’m focused on making sure my client gets the fairest possible trial and that he’s found not guilty.”
In court papers, Davis says he does not consent to being called Samuel Davis and that he made a mistake during his initial court appearance in March by inadvertently failing to inform the court that “I am: Sam” is the authorized representative for that namesake.
Pitcavage said sovereign citizens like to “do all sorts of funny stuff” with their names in court, often using colons, semicolons and commas to separate their first and last names.
“They have theoretical reasons for doing this,” he said. “They contend the government indictments are not directed against them, but rather are directed against a fictitious entity.”
Pitcavage said he also isn’t surprised to see that one of the publicly appointed attorneys in the case is having trouble communicating with his client.
“Usually, they won’t accept court-appointed attorneys,” he said. “When they do, they want their attorneys to use the sovereign citizen strategy” to fight the case.
“They’re angry at the whole system,” he added. “But they often get just as angry at their own lawyers and look to retaliate against them, too.”
The money laundering case stems from an FBI-led investigation of the “Sovereign Peoples Court for the United States,” which held seminars and “moot courts” teaching a nationwide group of followers how to get out of their financial obligations. Sovereign citizens declare themselves above the government’s jurisdiction and not obligated to pay taxes.
Since the FBI raided the Sovereign People’s Court in March, the group has curtailed its activities here. No seminars have taken place and little new information has been posted on the group’s Web site. Davis, however, has launched an evening Internet radio broadcast, during which he fields questions about his sovereign citizens ideology.
Davis, who lives in Idaho, and Rice, a self-described lawyer and rabbi whose last known residence was in Arizona, are charged with laundering money for undercover FBI agents, some of which went through religious organizations run by Rice. Two other alleged leaders of the group, Harold Call and Jan Alan Lindsey, a former FBI agent, are facing separate criminal charges. Call is charged with weapons violations and Lindsey with tax evasion.
Federal prosecutors said in court papers that the combined cases involve 660 hours of secretly recorded conversations on 184 audio and videotapes and more than 46,000 pages of documents that FBI agents were working to turn over to the defense.
Together, Davis and Rice, who are set to stand trial Oct. 5, were picked up on 85 of the recordings, prosecutors said.
"Bleeding the Beast" is an old tactic used by a number of fringe groups, including the FLDS "church."
It is no suprise that anti-government groups have similar tactics.
OG, government does something similar. It finds a company or product it dislikes and floods it with lawsuits in as many states as possible. (The best examples include Tobacco and gun manufacturers). Then government attempts to extract the shakedown money from the company because it cannot afford to fight all those cases.
Feds need to pound on these scam artists as they prey on the feeble minded - which describes too many LV residents.
If every traffic citation was challenged in court there'd be far fewer written, which is everyone's right without tricks that occasionally work like magic.
I had received a speeding citation heading into a rural town centered upon two county crossroads which was this particular community's main source of revenue generation for its two employed cops (brothers) for nearly twenty years.
Doing a little research at the county's department of motor vehicles I discovered that the town's speed limit postings violated state law.
After questioning the officer that issued the citation at trial as to how long the speed postings had been in place, I presented my evidence i.e. photos/law to the judge which clearly indicated that this particular community's 'speed trap' had been a longtime violation of law in which thousands of motorists over the years had been unjustly issued traffic citations.
The judge agreed, dismissing my bogas violation while issuing a court order that the town modify its postings to comply with state law ending a two decade scam by its local law enforcement.
Systems that illegally criminalize citizens as a means of revenue generation are easy to hate but mere hate doesn't right their wrongs.
You just can't make this stuff up.
These fringe nut groups need the uneducated to join them........otherwise they would fail. only the igorant and stupid follow these groups.
Once a person gets past the 6th grade education level, they can see these groups are run by people who's lives have been utter failures and they need to take their anger for their lousy lives out on others.
"Feds need to pound on these scam artists as they prey on the feeble minded - which describes too many LV residents."
DSP -- you picked a descriptive name, only add "ignorant" to it. I've seen some of their (sovereign movement in general) material. They tend to use very old but still valid law going back to our national origins. The name thing is out there, but as long as he has valid law to back it up, the court had better pay attention.
"These fringe nut groups need the uneducated to join them........otherwise they would fail. only the igorant and stupid follow these groups.
"Once a person gets past the 6th grade education level, they can see these groups are run by people who's lives have been utter failures and they need to take their anger for their lousy lives out on others."
Bert -- exactly what are you basing your statement on, besides trying to look clever? Do you even know what "sovereign" means? These "fringe" groups are fighting for everyone's rights, including yours.
If these folks are "sovereign" have they renounced U.S. citizenship? If they don't want to bear the same responsibilities that all Americans have (to obey the law, among other things) they can always leave. Bye!
Oh, wait. Finish your prison sentence first.
Killer B........these clowns don't speak for me, and never will.
Seems all these people have some axe to grind..........then they hide behind the "patriot" label, and form their own little courts, laws, etc.
Playing court and such is good if they want to play games and form countries within countries and all forms of supposed self governce......might as well swear allegiance to some alien planet and start saying they are all citizens of Vulcan and they only follow Vulcan laws.......In Spock they trust, live long and prosper, beam me up, blah, blah blah.
Auslander -- then you're clueless on what sovereignty really is. We are all sovereigns.
Bertsos -- where is it implied they "speak" for you? And it looks like you had no real foundation for your statement, since you didn't provide your basis. As for the rest of it, read the Nevada Constitution, Article I, Section 2, and cure your ignorance.
Angry -- you sound like a Revolutionary War Tory.
Auslander and ilk -- for your enlightenment:
"The words "people of the United States" and "citizens" are synonymous terms, and mean the same thing. They both describe the political body who, according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty and who hold the power and conduct the Government through their representatives. They are what we familiarly call the "sovereign people," and every citizen is one of this people, and a constituent member of this sovereignty." -- Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856)
Some of us can see how badly our governments have parted their moorings, far from what we authorized them to be and do, and not do, by written Constitutions. All government authority comes from us and nowhere else. My point is all these harsh posts against the accused in this article comes from ignorance and apathy -- like the bleating of sheep. Hence "the herd."
What this article and the comments fail to realize about this case is that there is already the presumption that the accused are guilty. Which is I'm sorry to say how are "legal" system works these days.
What this article, and the ones related to it will not tell you is that these men, were entrapped by your federal government. Rather than pursuing actual criminals, they set up over the course of three years, an entire scheme to attack, actual freedom fighters. This was all do to the fact that they were helping people understand their rights, to understand how to get out of this game that is the "Americanopoly". They are systematically liquidating the American People's Credit through bailouts and the like. Driving us further and further into debt. These men seek to relieve us from this bondage. The "tricks" that are described are not tricks but are sound lawful principles that are on the books, in federal rules of criminal/civil procedure, and of the constitution. Invoking ones Un a lien able rights is not a "trick" however much they would like you to believe it.
And if it was a trick. Why oh why did the first two judges for these cases recuse themselves? To those of you who your minds have been freed from the occupation: Keep fighting peacefully.
To those of you who are still occupied by the programming you have received: We Fight and Pray for You.
KillerB -
You might want to actually read the constitution from which you worry that we are becoming unmoored. The 14th Amendment should be of particular interest, as it reverses Dred Scott.
It is of considerable amusement that you cite a case that confirms the property rights of slave owners as support for "sovereignty." Clueless indeed.
The bottom line is that no one is absolutely sovereign. We have rights guaranteed under the constitution, and laws that are created in accordance with it. You don't get to pick and choose.
Auslander -- I'm quite familiar with not only the 14th Amendment but Peggy Cooper Davis' excellent book on it "Neglected Stories."
Scott v. Sandford is still being cited today. The U.S. Supremes as recently as 2008, the 9th Circuit twice in this very decade.
The principles of sovereignty are still the same. As for what rights we get to pick and choose, that would be the federal 9th Amendment and the state's Article I, Section 20.
Who's clueless now.
What principles of sovereignty, Killer? Even your quote from Dred Scott (sans context) says "every citizen is one of this people... sovereign people... a MEMBER of this sovereignty." Nowhere is there mention of a sovereign PERSON, the reference is to the PEOPLE. The 9th Amendment doesn't give individual citizens the right to violate established law, which is legislated by representatives of THE PEOPLE.
The very idea of individual sovereignty in the context of a republic is ludicrous, but an appeal to logic here is evidently foregone.
Auslander -- you seem to be suggesting we live in a police state, which suggests we are being ruled by our servants, which is correct.
If your 9th Amendment view means legislatures, including Congress, can exceed Constitutional limitations with validity, I disagree with you completely. Any government act in violation thereof is automatically void -- 1803's Marbury v. Madison, and some of last year's D.C. v. Heller made that clear.
What we're debating here is semantics. There is individual sovereignty to a degree -- that's what the Bill of Rights protects. The U.S. Supremes have long called it a "zone of privacy" and eluded to our most preciously guarded right -- "the right to be left alone." Areas of our lives no government entity may enter or interfere with, but it does anyway in complete disregard of its limits, all the time considering itself and its agents above the law.
Harley - good story - thanks for sharing that.
I'm afraid much of the rest of the posts sound like they come from the same group(s)that hold that the federal income tax is invalid and that has given rise to the "birther" movement.
Seriously. Oh, HardTruth, don't pray for us (we just ask not to be randomly shot [see D.C. shooting yesterday] when the disturbed and frustrated finally snap).
so with KillerB, i am sovereign, and i have the right to make my own law regarding my own sovereign. touch me and i kill you by my own law. screw the law of the land that I live in.
hey, i am sounding as stupid as the people killer defends!
jaesun -- yes, yes (to a point), yes (in self-defense), maybe.
It's not up to me, it's never been up to me, moron. As longs as "people" like you are not only clueless of but hostile to your rights, then you deserve to be treated like livestock. Just don't include me in your ilk.
moo
Jaeson - LOL. That says it all.
No one involved in this hates the government - nor do they disobey the laws - it would just be nice if the laws were OBEYED by the ENFORCER of same as accurately as they feel everyone else should.
One more thing - does anyone know what "investigative reporting" is - because it seems to me that only one side is heard on this story - and that side is the one that makes sure the SUN can continue to print and report.
Does anyone smell socialism here?
This "raid" took place with 25 officers with loaded guns - to take down a 64 year old woman who would have gladly let them in. These officers raced down the street and made a very large spectacle of their "raid". That is how your tax dollars are spent - if the "search warrant" was warranted they could have just came in the front door - after all it was a business - and it was opened for business.
Further - in one other raid that took place that morning, there were 60 or 70 officers, loaded with guns and an armored unit - confronting a home where they KNEW NO ONE WAS HOME - BECAUSE THE OCCUPANT WAS WITH AN UNDERCOVER AGENT. More of your tax dollars at work
Maybe its time some of you woke up and smelled the gun powder.
DislikesStupidPeople said "I'm afraid much of the rest of the posts sound like they come from the same group(s)that hold that the federal income tax is invalid and that has given rise to the "birther" movement."
well "DSP" you have nothing to be afraid of, except maybe that you're accepting the "program" of the TV, K-12 school,College, This paper that you subscribe to, watch, read, or attend. This(ese) group(s) may think that the federal income tax is completely valid for those "Citizens" it applies to. Maybe, if you actually took the time to "read" (decipher really) the tax code or the laws established or even some of the words in laws or amendments you would find.....well maybe I'll let you look it up...get a law dictionary first though, so when you read a certain word, you can actually find the correct definition that is meant, and the correct pronunciation. Unfortunately as the state of things are, most people don't read it, the ones that do, most don't understand, and the rest don't really care and are fine to go along with the program "Everyone has too because that's how it's been for along time, and everyone else does it." However some do read it, understand it, and are attempting to help save human lives, humans that are losing their homes, their families, their property, their sanity. Some of those very people so overcome with debt slavery that they do get "disturbed and frustrated finally snap" as you put it. So these are not the bad guys, they're actually the good guys, fighting the system peacefully, within the laws, and rules to help all people get free. The system saw this, disliked it, and set a plan in action to set them up, entrap, defame, and vilify them. This one sided article which is a 3month followup to the first one sided "re-port-ing" is proof enough of that same system.
We pray that you choose to deprogram yourself, research it for yourself and be open to the possibility that you for once, could possibility be wrong. It "is" possible.
"That depends on what your definition of "is" is"
William J. Clinton
Lawyer
There is a theory known as the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (TDC) which holds that the mind involuntarily rejects information not in line with previous thoughts and/or actions.
A person can deal with the pressure generated by the dissonance by changing the old behavior to harmonize with information. But if the person is too committed to the old behavior and way of thinking, he simply rejects the new information. A simple "I don't believe it" thought or word is the easy cop out. For if you are unaware, you are unaware of being unaware.