Going Swimming in the Brown Jury Pool

[Demosthenes]

Plainfield

Big jury pool for Brown trial
Request brought on by publicity

By Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff
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May 18, 2009 - 12:00 am

A federal court has asked for nearly triple its usual jury pool to select jurors for the conspiracy and weapons case against Ed and Elaine Brown of Plainfield.

The couple, whose extended standoff with federal officials was widely publicized, are well known in New Hampshire. That fact will make it more difficult to select an impartial jury than in a typical criminal case, said U.S. District Court clerk James Starr.

"A normal criminal case with two defendants, we'd probably bring in 80," Starr said. "This case has got a little more coverage, so we bring in a few more jurors just to make sure, again, that we can pick a jury on that day."

Court officials are expecting about 230 potential jurors in late June. That's not a record for the federal court; at times civil cases involving major local institutions such as Concord Hospital have attracted more. The number is similar to the jury pools in two recent high-profile criminal cases - last year's trial of four Brown supporters and the 2005 trial of Jim Tobin in the Republican National Committee phone jamming case. But it is a large enough jury pool that the court has made special arrangements for transportation and logistics.

The Browns were convicted of tax-related felonies in January 2007 but avoided capture for months by holing up in their concrete home, stockpiling weapons and threatening violence against federal agents. They were arrested in October of that year by undercover U.S. marshals. The couple are now accused of a combined 11 felonies, including conspiring to interfere with the federal government, obstruction of justice and illegally possessing firearms. The most serious charge, for making and possessing improvised explosive devices, carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Throughout the standoff, the Browns were the subject of extensive local and national news coverage. They also appeared regularly on an online radio show and publicized their situation on social networking sites, discussion forums and anti-government websites.

Four of their most prominent supporters were tried last year. During jury selection for that case, nearly half of all possible jurors said they had heard of Ed and Elaine Brown and read news coverage of their case.

The Browns were charged with the new crimes in February. Though at separate arraignments, both Browns said they did not wish to participate in the court proceedings, they have filed more than 20 motions with the court so far. Nearly all have been dismissed by the judge as frivolous. The Browns have met regularly in jail to plan their defense, but they have rejected discovery materials provided by prosecutors and have missed deadlines to file evidentiary motions.

The judge, George Singal, did grant two requests from the couple. He allowed their near-daily meetings and delayed their trial from its original date in April to late June.

In a recent letter to supporters, published in the sympathetic New Hampshire Free Press, the Browns explained why they can't participate in their trial. The letter said the Browns operate under "God's law," not the laws of the court.

"Going into the courtroom which operates as a fiction, would require us, flesh-and-blood man and woman created by God, to present ourselves as legal fictions, known as the 'strawman,' " the letter said. "This would be a dishonor to God."

Jury selection is expected to take one day. The trial is scheduled to begin June 30 and is likely to last three weeks.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Three words:

Change Of Venue

[Judge Roy Bean]

I don't know how NH does jury selection, but if it's from driver's licenses or voter registrations that eliminates some portion of the nutballs.

Seriously though, given the nature of publicity and the way activists are literally networked in today's Internet environment, I would argue that another change of venue accomplishes nothing.

[Demosthenes]

According to the NH US District Court Jury Plan, they use the voter registration list plus the active driver's license list.

http://www.nhd.uscourts.gov/pdf/oo/oo2.pdf

[Scoop]

No motions for change of venue so far.

[Demosthenes]

Has the Monitor considered limited Joe Haas' ability to post zillion-word comments?

[LPC]

Has the Monitor considered limited Joe Haas' ability to post zillion-word comments?

But what he lacks in brevity, he makes up for in incoherence.

[ErsatzAnatchist]

No motions for change of venue so far.

No one will request a change of venue. The prosecutor cannot request to move the trial out of state. Ed and Elaine lack the sanity to ask for anything even related to the legal action actually going on.

The jury pool for federal court is the entire state (NH is a one-district state), so there is no point in moving the trial to a different part of the state.

[Pottapaug1938]

Moving the trial out of New Hampshire wouldn't even help -- all of the media markets in all of the neighboring states have covered this story, especially in Boston.

[Imalawman]

Moving the trial out of New Hampshire wouldn't even help -- all of the media markets in all of the neighboring states have covered this story, especially in Boston.

Yeah, but Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been so cooperative, I'm sure the judge will want to accommodate them.

[webhick]

Has the Monitor considered limited Joe Haas' ability to post zillion-word comments?

According to section #_____ of the Monitor's registration code *******, which I woefully pointed out to the acting attorney general on my visit of April ____ 200_**, my constitutional right to act like a dumbass, which is found on page __3 of the Internal Revenue Code, which was not acted into positive law and doesn't contain my birth name.

Now, getting back to Ed & Elaine Brown, who were not convicted per RSA #800.444____, only sentenced which is not a conviction but a Sunday paper with ice cream***, and to Anon 12:34 who bathes with gerbils and dyes his eyelashes with yellow dye #___*********..

[grixit]

Shouldn't E&E declare (not request) a change of venue to the Body of the Lord?

[ErsatzAnatchist]

Apparently my comment did not meet the requirements of the Concord Monitor and was not posted.

I posted something under the anonymous option and the Monitor comment monitor decided to nix it. Perhaps it was my calling Joe Hass (or his ideas) dumb @ss.

[webhick]

Apparently my comment did not meet the requirements of the Concord Monitor and was not posted.

I posted something under the anonymous option and the Monitor comment monitor decided to nix it. Perhaps it was my calling Joe Hass (or his ideas) dumb @ss.

I've seen worse up there. Anon posting is a two part process. You submit it once and then it tells you "You are not logged in! You may send your comment anonymously or login below. Anonymous comments do not appear immediately. They must be approved by a site moderator, which may take several hours.", at which point you must click the "Send comment anonymously" button. I only mention it because I almost missed it the first time I ever posted.

[Lambkin]

My anonymous comments were posted in under 24 hours.

[Demosthenes]

The filings are so consistently stupid that I don't even bothr downloading them anymore.

05/18/2009 77 MOTION Requesting an Interview with Edward and Elaine Brown at Strafford County Jail by WMUR-TV, Inc. as to Edward Brown, Elaine Brown. Served on 5/18/09. Follow up on Objection on 5/20/2009. (dae) (Entered: 05/18/2009)
05/18/2009 NOTICE OF HEARING as to Edward Brown, Elaine Brown: Status Conference set for 6/1/2009 09:00 AM before Judge George Z. Singal at US District Court - New Hampshire. (dae) (Entered: 05/18/2009)
05/19/2009 78 Motion for Transcript at Government Expense FOR A COPY OF TRANSCRIPT IN THE CASE OF UNITED STATES V. DANIEL RILEY by Edward Brown. Follow up on Objection on 6/8/2009. (Iacopino, Michael) (Entered: 05/19/2009)
05/19/2009 ENDORSED ORDER granting 78 Motion for Transcript at Government Expense as to Edward Brown (1). Text of Order: Granted. So Ordered. So Ordered by Judge George Z. Singal. (dae) (Entered: 05/19/2009)
05/19/2009 79 NOTICE of Unauthorized Use of Copyright Name by Edward Brown, Elaine Brown. (dae) (Entered: 05/19/2009)
05/19/2009 80 NOTICE by Written Communication/Security Agreement by Elaine Brown. (dae) (Entered: 05/19/2009)
05/19/2009 81 NOTICE by Written Communication/Security Agreement by Edward Brown. (dae) (Entered: 05/19/2009)
05/19/2009 82 NOTICE to Court by Edward Brown, Elaine Brown. (dae) (Entered: 05/19/2009)
05/19/2009 83 AFFIDAVIT of Edward-Lewis:Brown and Elaine-Alice:Brown of Facts to Challenge Jurisdiction (dae) (Entered: 05/19/2009)
05/19/2009 84 NOTICE of Acceptance for Value, etc. as to Endorsed Order re 76 by Edward Brown, Elaine Brown. (dae) (Entered: 05/19/2009)

[Lambkin]

The clerk needs a new red stamp "ACCEPTED FOR NO VALUE"

[Judge Roy Bean]

The filings are so consistently stupid that I don't even bothr downloading them anymore.

05/18/2009 77 MOTION Requesting an Interview with Edward and Elaine Brown at Strafford County Jail by WMUR-TV, Inc. as to Edward Brown, Elaine Brown. Served on 5/18/09. ...

Instead of a local TV reporter I would really like to see Penn and Teller do a piece on these people.

[wserra]

I took a look at a couple of the recent filings. They are no more stupid than were the earlier ones. They have, however, become repetitive.

Once the Browns' crap loses its entertainment value, what's the point of reading it?

[.]

Hey, it might provide some insight into how they'll conduct voir dire (assuming they participate,) which will surely be interesting for at least 30 seconds until Singal cuts them off at the knees.