Brown Appeal

[Demosthenes]

http://www.cheatingfrenzy.com/brownappealdecision.pdf

[Dr. Caligari]

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[wserra]

After skimming 40+ pages, I conclude "dog bites man".

[notorial dissent]

For some reason, the Appeals Court just didn’t seem to be overwhelmed by the thorough and detailed legal scholarship of Ed and Elaine and found none of their well reasoned and learned arguments persuasive. How shocking!!!!!

I am sure there will be a great deal of whining and beating of breasts over this latest in a long string of miscarriages of justice, at least by the last one or two remaining diehards who have nothing better to do.

[ErsatzAnatchist]

Well, it is now five years after the Browns were convicted of tax evasion.

They were sentenced to five years in prison for that conviction, and even given a modest amount of the limited good time that was available to them, they would both be free today. Instead, they are learning that their convictions have been affirmed (no surprise to anyone) and will die in prison.

After that thought, I can only shrug and say oh well.

[ErsatzAnatchist]

I can't read it at work, the company filter states it is a site that promotes bad stuff - violence, gambling, drinking, drugs, sex with vegetable, malfeasance, loitering, etc.

Link to the Opinion at the First Circuit Court of Appeals - http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/get ... -2402P.01A

[ArthurWankspittle]

I can't read it at work, the company filter states it is a site that promotes bad stuff - violence, gambling, drinking, drugs, sex with vegetable, malfeasance, loitering, etc.

You'll just have to wait to log on to Quatloos when you get home then.

[.]

Ah, memories.

But, I learned something. You can be charged with not attending your own federal trial. 18 USC 3146. Who knew?

You have a 5th Amendment due process right to be present at your own trial. What if you don't give a sh!t? Shouldn't you also have a 5th Amendment (or some other) right to not be present?

Never mind the niceties of pleading or confronting. Many people have been tried in absentia, but I don't recall them being also charged with not showing up. Maybe those were state court trials. But why should that make any difference?

Just asking, I'm not a lawyer, constitutional or otherwise. If I was charged with any crime, I'd be there, but what about a clown like Ed?

Not that it matters to his ultimate outcome, which will be death in federal custody, as it well should be.

In a somewhat bizarre footnote, the court actually quotes Wikipedia in number 12 regarding sovruns, in the course of holding that Ed has a tendency to be totally bizarre, although competent. Ed's actual competence is probably something Elaine will question to her dying day which will also be, thanks to Ed, in a federal prison.

The government-paid appellate lawyers have my sympathy, it was always a losing proposition in a worthless cause.

[notorial dissent]

TITLE 18 § 3146
Whoever, having been released under this chapter knowingly—
(1) fails to appear before a court as required by the conditions of release; or
(2) fails to surrender for service of sentence pursuant to a court order;

I think this is what they were actually charged with rather than for not being at the trial per se.

[LPC]

Really? The Browns are still wasting court time with their nonsense?

And the Circuit Court kept finding new ways to describe their nonsense:

"Edward embraced an unconventional belief system" (p. 8 )

"Edward further made a significant number of comments that reflected his atypical legal beliefs" (p. 11)

"Viewed in context, these words and behaviors (though often bizarre) did not evidence confusion on Edward's part about the legal proceedings against him, but rather reflected
firmly held, idiosyncratic political beliefs punctuated with a suspicion of the judiciary." (p. 12)

Footnote 12 on pages 11-12 is noteworthy:

12 If it could be given a label, Edward's belief system appears most akin to the so-called sovereign citizen movement whose proponents believe they are not subject to federal or state statutes or proceedings, reject most forms of taxation as illegitimate, and place special significance in commercial law. See Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement (last visited January 13, 2012). Edward's comments reflected this philosophy. He repeatedly indicated that he did not recognize the district court or the laws it operated under. He also referred to himself and Elaine as "secured party creditors" and stated that a criminal case is really a "commercial transaction." He referred to the court as "nothing but a commercial court" and "one of the biggest businesses in the country."

[VanMeters Revenge]

http://deadlinelive.info/2012/01/13/exc ... in-prison/

[fortinbras]

I doubt that Danny Riley's misadventure had anything to do with his tax resistance or his court case. We, of course, have no idea what Riley has been doing day-to-day in the slammer. Some sovrun types seem incapable of learning from their mistakes and start spouting their inane legal suggestions to other prisoners who, understandably, get cranky when these suggestions blow up in their face.

It could have nothing to do with anything. Some years ago the Aryan Brotherhood demonstrated its clout in one prison - to intimidate the warden - by having a number of random and relatively inoffensive (non-Brotherhood) prisoners killed off in various ways. The victims hadn't done anything in particular to offend the AB, they were simply easy to kill, and it demonstrated the power of the AB that it could be done.

[ArthurWankspittle]

I doubt that Danny Riley's misadventure had anything to do with his tax resistance or his court case. We, of course, have no idea what Riley has been doing day-to-day in the slammer. Some sovrun types seem incapable of learning from their mistakes and start spouting their inane legal suggestions to other prisoners who, understandably, get cranky when these suggestions blow up in their face.

This ^. If you want to read a conspiracy into everything that happens then that's what you'll do. The possibility that this nut said the wrong thing to the wrong guy, or that someone was being tested by gang members can't possibly be an explanation when you are a sovereign citizen.

[grixit]

Yeah, a defective shiv is definitely the sign of a hit by a really hardcore gang. I'm glad that Danny will recover; this is one incident that gains my sympathy instead of just setting off the vanmeter.

But the logic about martyrdom seems flawed. Danny Riley is more, not less, like to be seen as a hero and a martyr if his is killed in prison, as opposed to just staying quietly inside until he's released to a retirement home.

On the third hand, i am genuinely surprised at this sign of solicitousness in the movement. Actually caring about one of their own after he can no longer do anything for them! I wonder if anyone is visiting him.

[wserra]

Since this is a federal prison, you can bet your bottom federal reserve note that this was a professional hit.
...
Luckily for me, the poinard (sic) failed in it’s (sic) design, meaning the dagger part broke.

Yep, obviously the work of pros.

ETA: Oops. Sorry, grixit.

[The Operative]

The only thing that I am going to say about Danny's incident is that prisoners should be allowed to serve their sentences in a relatively safe, though not comfortable, environment. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Anyway, I hope that Danny can serve out the rest of his sentence without being the target of such violence in the future.

[VanMeters Revenge]

I had sent in a visitors form prior to the incident to try and help him with filings and running of errands since he is being held in Terre Haute FCI and I am the closest, being in Indianapolis. I have yet to hear back from the FBOP if I am able to go see him but would like to visit regardless, just if its to make sure he is doing well and recovering from this incident.

Just because one ends up incarcerated, there are still many that do indeed still care, I being one of the caring people. So much so I am now attending school to earn an Associates of Science for Paralegal Research. Once I obtain such, I am unsure if I want to become a lawyer, but am doing all I can within my being to help. Reno will be out by the time I end up graduating, so my efforts will benefit Danny, Jason and the Browns as well as those in similar situations.

Thank you for those whom sympathize, and did not take this unfortunate situation to take cheap shots and crack jokes about the circumstances that have recently unfolded for Danny.

[fortinbras]

If you wanna feel sorry for a prisoner, there's the case of Jonathan Magbie, who died in the DC Jail in 2004. He had been, since childhood, a quadraplegic, the result of a reckless driver. He spent his up-time in a special wheelchair controlled by a mouth-steering control, and he had to have a breathing machine (I think a CPAP) at all times. He also needed frequent attention for personal hygiene and to avoid bedsores.

Anyway, one day he was a passenger in a cousin's car when it was stopped by the cops. The cops smelled marijuana and Magbie admitted it was his, that he smoked it for medicinal reasons because he was in chronic pain. He was charged with a mj offense (his first and only) ... and, although the court could see how helpless he was in his wheelchair with his breathing machine and all, when he told the judge that he could not promise never to smoke mj again, she sentenced him to (a mere) ten days in the DC jail.

Except that the DC Jail didn't have a breathing machine. It didn't even have an ordinary wheelchair much less the special one Magbie needed. It didn't have any staff assigned to attend to him throughout the night. It put him alone in a room in the jail infirmary - and locked the door all night, even though he couldn't move a muscle. He started failing almost immediately. The jail dithered about taking him to the DC General Hospital, about two blocks away. They took him to the hospital, which operates on standards usually embarrassing to third world countries, and quickly took him back to jail. He was dead inside of four days. The judge said nobody ever TOLD her he needed the wheelchair and breathing machine he was using in court.

His mother sued and got a settlement, which I am sure makes everybody satisfied with this situation.

[fortinbras]

Another example from the DC jail, from 1993:

There was a horrendous drug gang type shooting at a public swimming pool. Some young thug in a trench coat came to the pool's edge, whipped a fearsome looking shotgun from his coat, blasted away rather indiscriminately (which complicated figuring out who and why) and, having killed a few defenseless people, sprinted off, over a hedge and into a waiting getaway car. It was a terrible crime and big news for several days.

Then the DC cops announced that they had arrested Charles Kenneth Duvall as the hitman. Evidently some survivors had recognized a photo of his face. He was arrested, arraigned, and remanded to jail.

At some point the newspaper reported that he had been dragged to his jail cell by a cop dragging him by his testicles. Oooo, but, hey, he had committed an awful crime so nobody felt sorry for him and nobody asked why he had been dragged. We assumed he was just being uncooperative.

And then, after a couple of weeks in the DC jail, he got a lawyer and it all hit the fan. He had been dragged, among other things, because he had, for many years, a wooden leg which, of course, they took away from him when he arrived in jail. You remember the part about the gunman jumping a hedge and running for the getaway car? Well, somehow the cops didn't. We're talking serious, ugly, nasty lawsuit.

[Famspear]

Elaine Brown's petition to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari was denied on May 21, 2012. Supreme Court docket # 11-9926.