Sean David Morton at sea

[notorial dissent]

I'm sure her probation officer will be fascinated by her behavior.

Somehow I just don't think fascinated is exactly the word I, or the probation officer, would use.

[Famspear]

I'm sure her probation officer will be fascinated by her behavior.

Somehow I just don't think fascinated is exactly the word I, or the probation officer, would use.

I have to wonder what it must be like to be a probation officer. What kind of wild, wackadoodle behavior would an experienced officer have not already seen? I gotta believe it would be pretty hard to "fascinate" a seasoned probation officer.

[JohnPCapitalist]

I'm sure her probation officer will be fascinated by her behavior.

Somehow I just don't think fascinated is exactly the word I, or the probation officer, would use.

I have to wonder what it must be like to be a probation officer. What kind of wild, wackadoodle behavior would an experienced officer have not already seen? I gotta believe it would be pretty hard to "fascinate" a seasoned probation officer.

This comment is a springboard to a point that we might wish to keep in mind. We have discovered the SovCit/FOTL crowd ourselves, and we may fall into the trap of thinking that they are a new and different phenomenon that the courts and police are confronting for the first time. But that is absolutely not the case.

A couple of years ago, I ran into the sheriff of a nearby semi-rural county on the fringes of the NY metro area in a social setting. SovCits are not a significant problem for him, but occasionally pop up. He's pretty dialed into national trends, however, so had a bit broader perspective. He said that there have always been a greater number of loons that had some sort of pseudolaw theories (or merely strongly-held misunderstandings of the law) than the average citizen could ever imagine. He felt that the number of loons is up slightly, and the Internet has spread specific varieties of pseudolaw more broadly, but he felt confident that the system would be able to adapt and contain them. Interestingly, he observed that as the legal woo from SovCits converges around a couple of theories, it's actually easier for the courts to fight it because they just have to dust off rulings and argumentation they've used before rather than researching/writing from a clean sheet of paper.

He was surprised at my level of concern (honed by following this site and Fogbow) that they are a new and more dangerous threat that could potentially pose a structural risk to the operation of the justice system by paralyzing the courts. While the heavily armed ones are indeed a concern, he felt that police adopting more of a "zero tolerance" policy towards the gateway crimes (plates, license, registration etc.) would dissuade many of them, and that while individual cases may waste the courts' time, overall, the dimensions of the problem are manageable.

And, of course, he rolled his eyes when I asked him if he felt omnipotent because he's a "constitutional sheriff."

[Famspear]

This comment is a springboard to a point that we might wish to keep in mind. We have discovered the SovCit/FOTL crowd ourselves, and we may fall into the trap of thinking that they are a new and different phenomenon that the courts and police are confronting for the first time. But that is absolutely not the case.....

I'm not sure how you define the phrase "new and different" or the phrase "for the first time." In Quatloos, we've been monitoring the sovereign citizen scams for many years. Indeed, the separate category of forum posts for sovereign citizens was established around January 2009. See:

http://www.quatloos.com/Q-Forum/viewtop ... =49&t=3629

The Wikipedia article on the "Sovereign citizen movement" was created on April 29, 2005.

[Famspear]

My interest in the "sovereign citizen" nonsense relates mainly to the use of the scam in Federal tax matters, in cases going back to the 1980s: Missett v. Commissioner, 49 T.C.M. (CCH) 602, T.C. Memo 1985-42 (1985); Hyslep v. Commissioner, 55 T.C.M. (CCH) 1203, T.C. Memo 1988-289 (1988).

EDIT: I went back and looked at my research, and the "sovereign citizen" cases go back to the 1970s. Example: Johnson v. Commissioner, 37 T.C.M. (CCH) 189, T.C. Memo. 1978-32 (1978).

[Burnaby49]

My interest in the "sovereign citizen" nonsense relates mainly to the use of the scam in Federal tax matters, in cases going back to the 1980s: Missett v. Commissioner, 49 T.C.M. (CCH) 602, T.C. Memo 1985-42 (1985); Hyslep v. Commissioner, 55 T.C.M. (CCH) 1203, T.C. Memo 1988-289 (1988).

EDIT: I went back and looked at my research, and the "sovereign citizen" cases go back to the 1970s. Example: Johnson v. Commissioner, 37 T.C.M. (CCH) 189, T.C. Memo. 1978-32 (1978).

That's how I got started, with the Canadian Detaxers back in the 1090's. I was actually involved with them to some extent on the Canada Revenue Agency side. I'd spent much of my career dealing with professsional tax accountants and lawyers who knew the law and applied it to their client's advantage but within the law as it read. The Detaxers threw that out the window and made it up as they went along with bizzare arguments such as the real definition of 'includes' and how no tax laws were valid because parliament missed a second reading of some trivial amendment in 1978. I was hooked so when the Poriskyites came along I joined Quatloos to discuss them.

[wserra]

That's how I got started, with the Canadian Detaxers back in the 1090's.

King Canute? Robert the Pious? Omar Khayyam? Detaxers? Damn, who knew?

I was hooked so when the Poriskyites came along I joined Quatloos to discuss them.

Well, this is abuse.

[Burnaby49]

That's how I got started, with the Canadian Detaxers back in the 1090's.

King Canute? Robert the Pious? Omar Khayyam? Detaxers? Damn, who knew?

I was hooked so when the Poriskyites came along I joined Quatloos to discuss them.

Well, this is abuse.

Tough, you made me a moderator anyhow.

[Hercule Parrot]

She’s back! Our dear Melissa is blogging from prison. And oh, she can get pad for her blog if you upvote!

https://steemit.com/projectcamelot/@pro ... fxfq2x33zo

I won't be voting. I am nauseated by her vile self-pitying claim to greater worth than an honest migrant who wants to work and raise a family.

[Gannibal]

SDM has some blog posts recently, too: https://projectcamelotportal.com/catego ... id-morton/

The most interesting is one in which "Fabian," supposedly incarcerated with SDM, tells stories about his exploits in prison:

I just wanted to say that Sean is THE smartest person I have ever met in my life. ... We used to all watch JEOPARDY in one of the TV classrooms and Sean would shout out ALL the answers to like every single question. So nobody wanted to play or watch it with him anymore. Then he beat all the black guys at CHESS (who take that REALLY SERIOUSLY), and then everybody else at chess…he said Bobby Fisher was an old girlfriend’s uncle and taught him to play…

He was only here for like 3 days, and he was attacked by this totally crazy full body tattooed Hawaiian muscle boy. Sean was sitting at a table against a wall, and just as the lights went out after count, this guy jumped him. He threw four punches and Sean blocked them all like Neo fighting Agent Smith at the end of The Matrix. Then Sean cocked back and kicked this guy in the stomach so hard he went flying about 10 feet, gasping and grabbing his guts. Then Sean jumped up on the table and yelled, “ANYONE ELSE WANT A PIECE OF THIS? STEP UP!!!” ... Anyway, no one messed with Sean after that.

SDM is also making psychic predictions that are coming true and doing Tarot readings for the warden. (By now I think you've figured out that SDM wrote this letter himself.) https://projectcamelotportal.com/2018/0 ... oner-ever/

He's also calling in to the cohost of his old radio show, making more psychic predictions, promising that his appeal will vindicate him and humiliate the government, and asking for financial contributions to support his crack legal team: https://www.youtube.com/user/studio9jam/videos

[grixit]

Well, *my* psychic prediction is that SDM is going to be the one kicked in the gut, figuratively.

[Tevildo]

Then he beat all the black guys at CHESS (who take that REALLY SERIOUSLY), and then everybody else at chess…he said Bobby Fisher was an old girlfriend’s uncle and taught him to play…

Just some irrelevant information:

1. It's "Fischer", not "Fisher".
2. Although it's not in his (SDM's) Wikipedia article, it is mentioned in the ufowatch article posted near the start of the thread: SDM was associated with Elisabeth Targ, who was Fischer's niece (or, at least, his legal father's granddaughter - Fischer's parentage is somewhat uncertain).

There doesn't seem to be anything out there to suggest that the relationship was anything other than professional, but SDM isn't out-and-out lying on this point. He might be about his chess skills, of course.

[notorial dissent]

Considering SDM's past and track record I find it difficult, well-nigh impossible, to believe this any more than ANYTHING else he happens to claim.

[Gannibal]

Minor update: SDM's brief on appeal was due on September 4. Nothing docketed yet. I don't know how strict CA9 is with filing deadlines for criminal defendants proceeding pro se.

In his various radio appearances over the last few months (broken up by periodic "THIS CALL IS FROM A FEDERAL PENITENTIARY" reminders), Morton has claimed that his crack legal team is going to get him released real soon now. I guess we'll see.

[TheCount]

I believe that in general, there are a number of "extensions" one can get on an appeal. I know in CA state court of appeals, you actually get a "we really, really need you to file your appeal" letter after the deadline has passed.

[Gannibal]

Yeah, it turns out he requested and was granted an extension.

[Gannibal]

Minor update. SDM's extended deadline for filing his initial brief was October 4. He missed it. On October 10 he filed a one-page request for a further extension so that he could brief newly-discovered "exculpatory evidence." (If any non-lawyers aren't already aware, that's a huge red flag. Appellate courts don't consider new evidence, so he's basically blown off his deadline for no reason.) He thought he'd be able to get it in within a few days, but he hasn't. No further filings or any response from the court on the docket.

Looks like he served the motion on October 4, so I'm not sure why it took so long to be filed. Nor do I have any predictions about whether the court will accept the brief at this point.

[notorial dissent]

Sounds to me like he was expecting to just keep filing for extensions until they forget about him, hopefully it won't work. They should have just locked him up and then let him appeal. He's a professional liar and he expects to keep getting away with it.

[Gannibal]

He's been in custody since he was captured last year. You can find some interviews on Youtube that he's done from the inside if you're interested, but they don't really touch on the SovCit stuff.

[notorial dissent]

My error, was thinking of someone else.