Cherron Marie Phillips indicted

[morrand]

Well, she got precisely what she wanted: Delay. I didn't expect that.

This will go on until Judge Shadur runs out of patience and does one of four things:

1) Appoints counsel, possibly pursuant to Indiana v. Edwards or a variation of the logic therein, then ultimately ejects Ms. Bey/Phillips from the courtroom or gags her (it will take that to shut her up) ....

I forecast a variant of (1) above, with counsel being appointed over her objection and her being ultimately booted out of court. If he mistries it, he gives her what she wants: Delay. Sooner or later, he hopefully will figure that out.

Someone ought to send him a copy of Meads v. Meads.

The minute order says, very clearly, that if she doesn't have counsel by Wednesday, she's getting it appointed for her. My impression is that Judge Shadur is already keenly aware of her potential to draw a mistrial and draw things out, and is trying to head that off at the pass. If he can do it in a way that suggests to Ms. Phillips that she should be careful what she says in her filings, so much the better. She may be beyond the suggestion, though.

I have seriously considered dropping a copy of Meads in the mail to him, but that seems a little presumptuous, what with a trial going on.

Morrand, thanks for that great summary...I really enjoyed reading it. Hope you can do it again on future court dates!

Thanks; unfortunately, it already took some planning to get the day off to visit the courthouse, so I don't foresee a repeat performance, but we'll see how long it takes for trial to get off the ground next time.

Chicago, July 29:
Referring to her latest filings as "clotted nonsense,"

With apologies for being too-easily amused by metaphor, that two-word phrase just made my entire weekend.

That seems to be a favorite of Judge Shadur's. It even turns up in one of his memorandum orders (from March 28, 2013; document #31), with a cite to the New Yorker.

[morrand]

Okay, well, some things to report.

Ms. Phillips, you will be surprised to hear, objects to the prosecution of charges against her. Oddly, she focuses most of her objections on her brother's criminal case--the one which, it is said, got her barred from the courthouse--and objects to prosecution of that case on assorted grounds: the law was invalid for want of an enacting clause, court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, officers acted with negligence and "malice of forethought". She addresses her own case as well: it is not a crime to file a lien against a vessel, "it is impossible to enforce this 'act' when the 'act' itself is rooted in law" (whatever that means), and a side of word salad.

Be sure to stick around for the end, where she attaches her letters to Eric Holder and Judge Holderman, demanding that they verify the constitutionality of the Controlled Substance Act within 20 days, under pain of being made party to past or subsequent adverse action.

Not surprisingly, Judge Shadur was unimpressed, and denied her objection.

In other non-surprises, Ms. Phillips failed to retain counsel, and so her former appointed standby counsel is now appointed to defend her.

The one real surprise is that Judge Shadur has been removed from the case, on direction from our old friend, Judge Easterbrook. Judge Michael Mihm, of the Central District of Illinois, has been substituted for Shadur. Whether this represents an intent to get a judge with more specialty experience on the job, or just an opportunity to give Judge Shadur a well-deserved vacation, is not clear to me from the Executive Committee order. What is clear is that, between a Central District judge and a Southern District US Attorney, this case is steadily drifting south out of Chicago.

Their next day in court has not yet been set.

[Lambkin]

http://www.mainjustice.com/2013/08/09/n ... ime-liens/

Even when he was the scourge of shady politicians and working dawn to dusk as the United States Attorney in Chicago, Patrick J. Fitzgerald was known as a practical joker. On one occasion, well aware that a fellow lawyer was anxiously awaiting an answer from a judge on a motion, Fitzgerald wrote a fake ruling and had it delivered to his colleague.

Is it fitting, then, that Fitzgerald finds himself hounded by a “sovereign citizen” named Cherron Phillips (or River Tali El Bey, as she sometimes calls herself) who doesn’t believe in paying taxes or obeying federal laws but definitely does believe in generating reams of paperwork for the courts?

[Lambkin]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 9924.story

An executive committee overseen by Chief U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo entered an order Wednesday removing Shadur from the case, court records show, and Judge Frank Easterbrook, the chief judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, then designated U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm of Peoria to instead preside.

No reason for the reassignment was given, but the case appears full of potential conflicts of interest because at least four of Shadur's colleagues on the federal bench were alleged victims of Phillips and could have been called to testify against her.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Just wondering how much faster this would have moved along had she not been allowed bail.

IMHO, in her twisted mind, every day she's not incarcerated is a day of victory.

[morrand]

Just wondering how much faster this would have moved along had she not been allowed bail.

IMHO, in her twisted mind, every day she's not incarcerated is a day of victory.

I can't quite agree. She's regularly been trying to chip away at the conditions of her bond. At the last hearing, she moved to resend [sic] or terminate home confinement, which Judge Shadur put aside for the moment. If it's a victory, it's evidently not a satisfying one for her.

My suspicion is that, if she were spending her time in the jail instead of home, she'd have all sorts of time to come up with all sorts of interesting papers to file.

Status before Judge Mihm now scheduled for August 28th.

[Chados]

My experience with these people is that taking their freedom does an awful lot to get their attention. They'll become very compliant if they think that it'll get them out of the slammer.

[Dr. Caligari]

Just wondering how much faster this would have moved along had she not been allowed bail.

IMHO, in her twisted mind, every day she's not incarcerated is a day of victory.

The late, great Edward Bennett Williams once said, "an adjournment is just as good as an acquittal, except it doesn't last as long."

[grixit]

My experience with these people is that taking their freedom does an awful lot to get their attention. They'll become very compliant if they think that it'll get them out of the slammer.

But to hear them tell it, their freedom has already been taken.

[morrand]

Ms. Phillips—or, rather, Ms. Bey acting on Ms. Phillips's behalf as the "Aggrieved Party"—objects to Faretta, apparently. She filed a motion to object to appointed counsel, and feels that the appointment of counsel violated her Sixth Amendment rights:

6. The aforementioned [6th Amendment] rights are infringed, abridged, and denied when the word "Counsel" is qualified to mean only attorneys may speak for the defense in a Court of Law.
7. Aggrieved Party is defending to protect the rights, title and interest of the defendant. She does not trust just any attorney whom the government is willing to furnish. Nor will she abandon the position of the private trust.
......
9. Aggrieved party also ask this court to take Judicial Notice that Defendants in criminal cases are allowed to plan their defenses without interference by the Courts, and the Defendant herein claims that same right. Therefore the court in this case must take note that the Aggrieved Party is not compelled to create and submit perfect legal paperwork in this instant action.
10. Aggrieved party has a right under the First Amendment freely to associate with whom she pleases in her defense and in its preparation and presentation, so long as such is respectful, with decorum and without contempt for orderly rules of procedure which do not deprive one of Rights provided for in the U.S. Constitution. To deny this Right is also to deny her Fifth Amendment Right to Due process of law, which is actually a guarantee of fundamental fairness. Numerous courts have ruled that if the court can reasonably read the submission, it should accept them, despite said submissions failure to cite proper legal authorities, confusion on legal theories, poor syntax and sentence construction, and/or litigants unfamiliarity with rule requirements. Boag v. MacDougall, 454 U.S. 364, 02 S. Ct. 700, 70 L. Ed 2d 551(1982); Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106 97 S. Ct 285, 50 L. Ed. 2d 251(1976) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S. Ct. 99 2 L. Ed 2d 80 (1957).
11. Aggrieved party has not only the right to speak for herself, but also to speak through whom she pleases. This is inherent in the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. It is also self evident as a part of the Natural rights doctrine. Those rights which are outlined by the Declaration of Independence, which antedates all government. They are natural or God-given rights, rather than government-given rights. AP does not claim any "attorney given rights, but demand that her god given, natural rights not be infringed upon.

I am not certain whether Ms. Phillips seeks to be represented by Ms. Bey, or whether there is another person about to be drawn into this case as her non-attorney counsel. One thing is sure: Ms. Phillips seems confused about whether she is acting as River Bey, or as Cherron Phillips, nowhere more so that on the signature line, which is signed "River Bey" over the typed name, Cherron M. Phillips.

There is an affidavit of service attached to this, made out by T. Hoye in care of 9449 S. Kedzie, Evergreen Park (which is apparently a UPS Store). I think T. Hoye showed up on some of the previous papers; I'd have to go through them again. At any rate, the jurat on the affidavit is a little strange in a sovruny way. It starts:

Code: Select all

Cook county                        )
Illinois state                        )affirmed and subscribed
United States of America     )

Ms. Bey also filed an objection to continued detention, talking about how there's no probable cause to think she's a flight risk, and talking up her community service, independent contracting (risk assessment and risk management, going on her affidavit in support), and caring for her family, including two small children. It's not really worth quoting. She conveniently leaves out the part about telling Pretrial Services that Judge Shadur had released her to go to one of those children's graduation, much to Judge Shadur's surprise and consternation.

Speaking of whom, if Ms. Bey is to represent Ms. Phillips effectively, my inexpert advice would be to keep up with whom the case is presently assigned to. Nearly two weeks after Judge Mihm replaced Judge Shadur, Ms. Bey filed these two papers and noticed them before Judge Shadur. Oops.

[notorial dissent]

Well, if she objects to Faretta, she certainly isn't doing her cause any great amount of good with all of this. I think she's also providing lots of evidence as to why she should be under detention.

I still think that trial is going to be long and painful unless the judge sits on her hard from the start.

[morrand]

MINUTE entry before the Honorable Michael M. Mihm: Status hearing held on 8/28/13 as to defendant Cherron Marie Phillips. Defendants motion to rescind or terminate home confinement as part of her bond is denied. Bond conditions remain as is. Defendants motion to represent herself in this matter is tentatively granted, with standby counsel to remain at this time. The defendant is to submit voir dire questions by 10/16/13. A pretrial conference is set for 10/16/13 at 11:00 a.m. Jury trial is set for 12/16/13 at 9:30 a.m. Time is excluded from 8/28/13 through and including [12]/16/13. Judicial staff mailed notice (gl, ) (Entered: 08/29/2013)

Oh, dear. I have a nasty feeling that Judge Mihm hasn't read the case file very carefully.

MINUTE entry before the Honorable Michael M. Mihm as to Cherron Marie Phillips: Defendant indicated during the status conference held on August 28, 2013, that she intends to file a motion unrelated to matters that she had previously addressed or that have already been resolved. The Defendant is directed to file her motion no later than September 13, 2013. The Government shall respond to the motion on or before September 27, 2013. (td, ) (Entered: 08/30/2013)

No, perhaps not nearly as carefully as he might have.

[notorial dissent]

Well hopefully he's a quick learner.

[morrand]

Ms. Phillips has been awfully quiet recently, for whatever reason. I'd just thought that maybe, just maybe, the delay in her trial was enough to get her mind away from her courthouse troubles and onto more productive pursuits. In fact, it would appear that she spent the time taking a refresher course in genuine sovrun gibberish.

Back on October 11, she filed a Motion to Dismiss(fn1) (her third or fourth, I think). This time, she's appearing as "River Bey, as Executor/Grantor to the CHERRON MARIE PHILLIPS TRUST by Inter-Vivos declaration, and," evidently, "the living will of Cherron Marie Phillips having revoked all prior wills and codicils moves this court to dismiss all claims against the CHERRON MARIE PHILLIPS TRUST." There isn't much new under this Motion, other than that she "rescinds any and all signatures and assumed powers of attorney placed on any forms, documents or the like" about November 9, 2012, claiming coercion.

For those of you playing along at home, November 9 was the day on which the indictment was filed against her, and also the day on which her bond was originally granted. She might want to think twice about that, but of course, as noted above, this isn't the first time she's asked to have her bond revoked. For what it's worth, in her Motion, she also asks for a rule to show cause why her home detention monitor shouldn't be removed immediately.

Curiously, she's made two subtle changes to the form of filing that are telling. The smaller one is that she prefixes her signature on the motion with the words, "It is hereby ordered." That seems a little presumptuous on her part. But given that she's made a habit of addressing the court as, "My honor," it's entirely possible that she's gone full bore sovrun, and decided that she's in charge and can grant her own motions. She did, after all, take it on herself (back on June 7) to let pretrial services know that she'd been granted leave to visit her child's graduation, much to the surprise of the presiding judge.

The larger one is that she's reversed the case caption, so that, rather than being, "United States of America, v. Cherron Marie Phillips," she's now rendering it as, "In the matter of Cherron Marie Phillips, Petitioner, v. United States of America, Respondent." A more forthright way of putting the prosecution on trial, I cannot conceive. It's an interesting way of twisting reality to meet her desires. Kind of like that one Twilight Zone in which a desparate man keeps trying to get off the New Haven Railroad in Willoughby.

Attached to this missive are a mess of papers, the gist of which is that Ms. Phillips is a non-resident alien living in "Chicago Illinois Republic NonDomestic, DMM 122.32"—and a neat trick it is, referencing the Domestic Mail Manual to claim non-domestic status—and wishes to cash out her birth certificate to pay off a number of debts against the estate.

So much for relative sanity. Four days later, she filed a "Notice of Account Settlement." Nothing particularly original here: she says that all documents and photographs in the case have been accepted for value and returned for settlement, and so on. But then it gets weird. For some reason, she drags in the Cook County Treasurer's Office, commanding her to settle up a laundry list of claims against the Cherron Mar—er, make that, the CHERRON MARIE PHILLIPS Trust/Estate. This includes what look like a couple of police reports, several Cook County court cases (not all of which appear to be real case numbers), a couple of USDC cases, a couple of FBI records, and an NCIC record. She appoints the Treasurer as the fiduciary for the trust, and sternly warns her that "IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOUR RECORDS ARE NOT ALTERED OR DESTROYED INCLUDING OFF-BALANCE SHEET ACCOUNTING." She also asks that the balance, after the trust assets are distributed to the creditors, be transferred to Obara Indigenous Enterprises for the account and estate of CHERRON MARIE PHILLIPS.

This is really a piece of work. She directs the Treasurer to pay off her creditors, order the courts to dismiss their cases against her, file several tax forms on behalf of her several personalities, and report all accounts as paid in full. Oh, and also to "squash all warrants, release all holds and expunge all prior offences [sic] on records, as well as, credit any invoices." Also to "release all bonds and sureties, notify all sureties of the release," squash all warrants (again). Also to "initiate all necessary process to immediately release and relieve all distress adverse to the juristic CHERRON MARIE PHILLIPS, CHERRON M. PHILLIPS, MARIE CHERRON and Secured Party interests and freedom." And here I thought all the Treasurer did was collect taxes; never realized they were a sort of omnibus sovrun roadside assistance service.

Obara Indigenous Enterprises (or Obara Indigenous Ministry) are all over this particular filing. No idea who or what that is, but her attached W-8 (which she requests that the Treasurer complete and send back to her) lists an EIN and a mailing address care of Minister River Bey, as Trustee, care of a Chicago P.O. box. (The IRS's tax exempt organization search comes up with no result for that EIN, for what that's worth.)

The court, faced with this impressive pile of papers, replied succcinctly:

The Court, sua sponte, finds that there is reasonable cause to believe that the defendant may presently be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering her mentally incompetent to the extent that she is unable to understand the nature and consequence of the proceedings against her or to assist properly in her defense.

Competency evaluation due December 6, for a hearing December 16 (the same day as trial), and the DOJ pays.

Now, a question. I do believe that this is less a matter of mental incompetence and more one of obstinacy on the part of the defendant. Is there any good way to get a copy of Meads into Judge Mihm's hands (assuming that he does not have one) without either being offensive or violating the rules against ex parte filings? I suppose a cover letter along the lines of, "Hey, Judge, apropos of nothing, but get a load of this," might do the trick (assuming the mails get through to the courts at all in these sad times), but I'd rather not further annoy a judge who's about to have a hard enough time already.

(fn1) I apologize in advance if these don't come up particularly quickly. I've stashed them on my BBS at home, which is behind a DSL line that's currently tied up trying to re-install a load of software on the other computer, which crashed yesterday.

[wserra]

Is there any good way to get a copy of Meads into Judge Mihm's hands (assuming that he does not have one) without either being offensive or violating the rules against ex parte filings?

Short answer: not directly, no. It's not so much an ex parte issue. Rather, you're not a party to the case. You might try emailing it to the AUSA and/or standby defense counsel. I would not try to communicate with the Court, as that will cause more problems than it would solve. And what makes you believe that Judge Mihm doesn't already know about it? I'd bet he does.

I apologize in advance if these don't come up particularly quickly.

Thanks for your detailed post, but you should be aware that the connection times out every time I've tried, through five minutes ago.

[Kestrel]

Obara Indigenous Enterprises (or Obara Indigenous Ministry) are all over this particular filing. No idea who or what that is, but her attached W-8 (which she requests that the Treasurer complete and send back to her) lists an EIN and a mailing address care of Minister River Bey, as Trustee, care of a Chicago P.O. box. (The IRS's tax exempt organization search comes up with no result for that EIN, for what that's worth.)

Obara is a character from the George RR Martin's novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, and the TV show Game of Thrones (although she has yet to make an on-screen appearance). She is the bastard daughter of one of the ruling families of Westeros.

This is the way Obara is described in the Song of Ice and Fire Wiki:

A prickly, hot-tempered woman who is given to martial pursuits as she considers herself a warrior, wielding a spear, a whip, and a round shield of steel and copper. She is hard, quick, hot-tempered, and strong. She is fond of wine and is a confident rider who uses spurs, often to the point where the animal is bloody, and always rides stallions. Obara is a big-boned woman near to thirty, long-legged, with close-set eyes and rat-brown hair.

So what do you think? A real resemblance, or just an imagined one?

[morrand]

I apologize in advance if these [files] don't come up particularly quickly.

Thanks for your detailed post, but you should be aware that the connection times out every time I've tried, through five minutes ago.

My apologies for that. It was a network configuration problem, which should be fixed now.

[morrand]

Delays, delays...

Ms. Phillips apparently failed to appear for her competency examination. The court was not amused at this:

Order as to defendant Cherron Marie Phillips: Status hearing held on 12/11/13. Parties present, Defendant, Cherron Phillips, with stand-by counsel Lauren Solomon and Plaintiff, United States of America represented by Nathan Stump. Plaintiff provides Defendant did not report for competency examination scheduled on November 25/26, 2013. Defendant provides she did not receive notice of the dates. Court admonished Defendant that the failure to report for future competency examination will result in warrant for her arrest. Court establishes procedure for providing notice to Defendant on competency examine. Plaintiff to provide notice via docket filing, with additional notification given to pre-trial services. Pre-trial Services is directed to make direct contact with Defendant regarding the date of competency examination and report back to the Court and counsel that Defendant has been notified. Plaintiff also notes competency examine has been done in unrelated state case. Competency hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 19, 2014, at 10:00 AM. Court makes interest of justice findings/Speedy Trial Act findings for period of time up to/including February 19, 2014, no objection. Signed by the Honorable Michael M. Mihm on 12/11/13.Judicial staff mailed notice (gl, ) (Entered: 12/11/2013)

(emphasis mine)

I am not certain of what state case is involved. Cook County's courts have a very limited online lookup feature (and, of course, there is no guarantee this is a Cook County case). I had, however, scheduled next week off in hope of catching the trial this time; perhaps that time would instead be well spent over at the court house looking in the docket?

In other news, docket #97, which is listed as a "letter" ... um, isn't, really. What it is, is three pages of handwritten notes, with no explanation, no headings, nothing that looks like a filing of any sort. They read, as best as I can tell, as follows:

Nov 2012
Please review Cherron Phillips case She and me the unknown party filed the liens with my help
in court I am going to say I am Malik Emir El

Kenneth Swearingan

[page break]

I am the unknown defandant in Cherron Phillips case we file all liens
gin

The third page just has the names, "Theresa Dennis" and "Stephanie Elle" written on it. This apparently was the envelope in which this missive was delivered (it says, "This envelope is recyclable," for one thing). There is no postage, and no other address on it. The whole thing is actually just a bit spooky.

The name, Kenneth Swearingan, sounds familiar for some reason, but I can't place it.

[wserra]

In other news, docket #97, which is listed as a "letter" ... um, isn't, really. What it is, is three pages of handwritten notes, with no explanation, no headings, nothing that looks like a filing of any sort.

It's worth linking to.

The whole thing is actually just a bit spooky.

It might be, were this a real case. It's not, however. The point is reinforced by the address of the institution which the govt designates for the psych exam: "65 E. Wacker Place, Suite 2240, Chicago, IL, 60601". Now, I'm aware that Wacker Drive is a major Chicago thoroughfare, but still, how apt can you get?

[Kestrel]

It might be, were this a real case. It's not, however. The point is reinforced by the address of the institution which the govt designates for the psych exam: "65 E. Wacker Place, Suite 2240, Chicago, IL, 60601". Now, I'm aware that Wacker Drive is a major Chicago thoroughfare, but still, how apt can you get?

Wacker Place is a two block long street connecting Michigan Avenue with a curve in Wacker Drive. It's a legit address.

The only problem with looking this stuff up on google maps is that google adds it to my search history, and the next time I open my smartphone's maps app it wants to give me driving directions to the place.