Posted 10:13 PM by Al Thompson Comments (8)
 

Poster Child for Ignorance of the Law

April 16th, 2004 United States Distric Court Eastern District of California
"Judge" Frank C. Damrell presiding

Judge: "Mr Thompson, you are the poster child for the ignorance of the law."

Gee, I thought that was kind of a funny remark given that since I'm so ignorant of the law,
the Department of Justice won't tell me what it is.

It was all I could do was to keep from cracking up at this remark.

___________________________________________________

As many of you already know, I was captured by the US Marshall Service (Brown Shirts) on April 15th, 2004 for an alleged contempt of court. I will provide details of the ongoing case later in the article. I haven't posted much on this incident because I wanted to take the time to absorb what had happened and I didn't want to be distracted in answering any questions until I could evaluate the situation and act accordingly. So I'm posting this now so that people who were interested in what is happening regarding me can understand it from my viewpoint.

My son Tim and I were planning to go to lunch around 12:30 PM that day, and a suburban with two unidentified men drove up to my driveway and they got out and put my hands behind my back. They did not show any warrant nor did they identify themselves. I struggles a little bit as I didn't know who they were, and one agent said if I continued he would put pepper spray in my eyes. My son Tim was visibly upset and asked them for identification. They told my son, who was 19 years old that if he continued to ask that question, that they would arrest him too. It really takes a real bunch of shmucks to threaten a young man who was simply asking for identification.

I keep asking for the warrant and none was presented.

I was then treated to a ride down to the Sacramento County Jail. I keep asking the agent or whatever you want to call him for the warrant, and he just glared at me. At one point, as I was sitting on a bench in the intake area, the agent told me to slide down to the end of the bench. I thought I would act like a sovereign and I said, "No thanks, I'm comfortable right here." He then grabbed me by the shirt, and slid me down where he wanted me. His veins were buldging from his neck, and he said something like, "Don't f**k with me...this isn't the place for you to screw around, if you want to screw around...we can make it very difficult for you...." I replied, "Are you threatening me?" The agent then backed off a bit and I went to the next processing point. There, they wanted any medical data which I refused to give. I have hypertension, but I didn't want any medication from them, in fact, without a warrant I had no reason to be there in the first place. I was getting some slight chest pains from the experience, but I didn't want anything from these people.

I was then put in a holding cell with about fifteen other prisoners and I waited until they wanted my picture and fingerprints. I didn't want to give them up, so I resisted and pulled my hands back from the machine they use for such purposes. Upon doing that, I had my hands contorted by the officers, by arms twisted like a pretzel until I submitted to having my finger prints and photo taken. As they were twisting my arms, one "officer" said, "You gotta pay your taxes, Thompson." Remember, all of this is over an issue of wanting me to fill out forms that I have no legal duty to do, but I'll comment more on that later.

As I was being marched down another hallway, there was a sheriff deputy that started walking along side. He kept looking over his left shoulder at various intervals. Upon getting to the next processing point he said, "Thompson, I sure hope you're right about the income tax....I just paid those bastards $19,000." I told him amoung other things, that the internal revenue laws were repealed in 1939 and that there isn't any law that requires one to pay such a tax. It's interesting how varied the opinions are within the ranks of the personnel in the "government." Some think I'm a crook and some hope that I am correct.

After all the processing, I was treated to a nice two man suite on the 8th floor where we all were locked down 23 hours out of 24. We got one hour per day to take a shower and make a phone call. The cuisine was bad, but since I'm on a diet anyway, the quality of the food, or lack of it, made it quite easy to stay on the diet. As a matter of fact, it is amazing how well one's body can do without so much food. I already have lost 52 pounds, so I was hoping for another 5 or 6 lost during my stay. I was not disappointed.

Jail food is really something else. These guys go out of their way to make things taste bad. But then again, they really don't care about their customers. Some things that they served couldn't be identified. Some of us were trying to figure out what it was let a lone eat the junk. Is it beef? Is it pork, tofu, chicken, cocker spaniel, German shepard, rattle snake........what?

Sometime before my initial court appearance, a federal defender came in and said that the judge sent him and he wanted to know if I needed a lawyer. I asked him if he knew the difference between a code and a statute. He just looked at me...and I said," I thought so..." "How can you defend me if you don't know the difference?" Whether he knew or not, I can't say. I proceeded to tell him that there is no way he could help me as if he really did put up a good defense for me, he'd lose his bar card. He didn't disagree. He did act as a messenger and delivered whatever paperwork the government had for me. During all this time, no one from the government came in to speak with me.

On April 16th, 2004 I had to get up at 3:00AM to get ready for court at 9:00-11:00AM.
When I went before Judge Damrell, I knew I was in for a lot of problems. Remember, when one goes into federal court, you have the judge, prosecutor, federal defender, and bailiff, all government employees against you. The deck is stacked, and they deal from the bottom.

It is difficult to get up that early, be lead down in chains, wait in a holding cell, and then perform effectively before a judge who does this kind of thing everyday. So one needs to be as prepared as he can be, but experiencing something like this is hard to prepare for.

Here's a short recap of my case. I was presented with a suit for an injunction that would force me to fill out 941s, withhold,W2s, and post court papers in my office. This started around July of 2003.

I had served the court with a plea in abatement, which they eventually struck from the record. I subsequently filled a counter-claim which remains unanswered, and I also file a writ of habeas corpus which also want not answered or responded to. The DOJ then filled for sanctions for filing the plea in abatemenst because as a "pro se" litigant, of which I am not, I should have, according to them, stayed within the boundaries of what they wanted. It didn't matter to them that I was attempting to protect my rights. But these courts simply ignore whatever one files, especially if it is critical of the government.

I was then served with more papers regarding the contempt of court. I had not complied with the order, as I already had a writ of habeas corpus and jurisdiction wasn't proven.
But the court continued to move forward as if I had filed nothing. This is typical and should be noted if anyone thinks that there is any lawful due process going on in these tribunals. I sent back these documents as "Refusal for Cause, Without Dishonor" and I treated them just like I would commercial paper. Well, they obviously can't let me get away with that, so I was captured by the Brown Shirts and taken into captivity.

So around April 20th or there abouts, I had agreed to comply with the order. The order stated that I was to complete accurate returns. That didn't seem so hard if the government would prove that I am an "employer" and a "person" according to the law. The judge told me if I had any kind of questions that I was to direct them to the government. He said, "Any questions are between you and the government." So I agreed to file accurate returns according to the law.

On May 7th, I sent in an urgent message to the Department of Justice requesting certification under the penalty of perjury by a competent witness that I am an "employer" and a "person" according to the law. They must have popped a gasket in Washington and my answer was a call for my second arrest. Rather than provide me with the tools I needed to get the job done, I was threatened with yet again another kidnaping. In addition, I had done this four weeks before the date these returns were due to be filed.

Of course I had a good idea this might happen but I gave the government the benefit of the doubt. My position is that I would do what was lawful and proper and never be a man who is arrogant and just does what he wants because he wants to argue with the government.

I had then filed a notice of default on the Plaintiffs and I did not show up at the scheduled June 25th hearing as I had treated the order as a void order. Apparently a "oral order" for a warrant was put out against me and they took until August 9th to come and pick me up once again for yet another joy ride in the government SUV to the Sacramento county jail.

I was dragged before "judge" Damrell and I was once again told that "You have the keys to the jail....." which is really a pantload as I wasn't the one who arrested myself. I was told that until I complied with his order I would remain imprisioned. I told the "judge" that as far as I am concerned, unless the government could procuce the taxing statute and the substantive regulations, that I could not fill out the IRS forms as it would constitute lying and perjury.

If I recall there was another hearing a few weeks later where I demanded to be released. I had also informed the "judge" that the internal revenue laws were repealed in 1939 and never re-enacted again. He didn't care. He said something to the effect, "the only law that you need to worry about is my law and that you obey my order." So there I was put between a rock and a hard place to say the least. If I were to comply to get out of jail I would have to sign a document under the penalty of perjury of which I would not believe one thing that I would put on it. It gets worse. Even if I wanted to comply, I was expected to complete three or four years returns in a jail cell when all the data was only retrievable by me. We had a short staff do to the difficult business conditions in aviation and there was no possible way to comply if I wanted to. So there I was in Sacramento County Jail going through this and cut off from my family and friends, with the exception of a few phone calls.

Since we were locked down, (remaining in a two man cell) for 22 out of 24 hours, I had to make an incredible mental adjustment from being very active to watching the time go so slow that a day seemed like a year. I started to pray and study the law some more and I had a lot of time to think things out that I wouldn't have otherwise done as I was completely cut off from all distractions. I wouldn't want to repeat the experience, but it was invaluable in learning how to control my mind and stay focused on what needed to be done.

It was also hard early on to get paper and pencil let alone file any court paperwork. But about five weeks into this fiasco, I was able to get the job done, but without the help of any word processor or law library. I had to had write my motions and then make about seven or eight copies by pencil on a white tablet. Needless to say, I had to keep these motions short as I wasn't going to do any 10 or 15 page briefs in pencil. That turned out to be a good thing.

On Sept 17th, I filed a Motion for Release from Jail, Notice of Fraud upon the Court, and something else I can't remember. I filed the document as an Article III, Section 1 Court of Record. This is an unusual move as it shifts the court into the common law. When I had learned this procedure, I was told that it was only for original suits, counterclaims, and writs of habeas corpus. However, I modified this procedure to include any kind of motion I wanted. To understand this information and the difference between nisi prius courts (USDC and courts of record go to http://1215.org) Since I'm the sovereign, I decided to simply proceed in law.

The paperwork wasn't filed into the court until September 29th and the government was ordered to respond by October 20th. The government response was nothing but nonsense and it's hard to believe these US Attorneys graduated from law school. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I do understand what my rights as a man are and how to secure them to my benefit. The government's focus was how much time it would take in prison it would take for me to decide that I would fill out the forms. It's like wondering how much bamboo under the fingernails will work until I give a confession.

Thus the hearing was set for October 29th, and a lot of my friends and supporters were going to be at the hearing. However, a few days before I got the feeling the court would change the date, and that's exactly what happened. Around 3:00AM October 28th, a letter from the USDC was slide under my cell door informing me that the hearing was set on that same day. It was one day early so that not too many people would be in the courtroom. It never ceases to amaze me the lengths these people go to in order to hide their misdeeds.

I was taken in front of the "judge" at about 10:00 AM and what happened next was surreal. The "judge" held up the motion that I filed and then berated me on the style and form, and that he didn't understand hardly anything I stated in the motion. My motion wasn't that difficult and it essentially called for the disclosure, once again, for the taxing statutes and the substantive regulations that applies to me. The "judge" also stated that if this was another kind of case he might have me committed for a mental evaluation. But the hearing was supposedly for whether or not the coercive part of the contempt is doing its job in forcing me to comply. Ms. Graham from the DOJ whined to the "judge" that I was in jail barely three months and that's not enough time to force me to comply and that in fact some contempt cases had gone over a year or maybe two. The "judge" however wasn't buying her argument and decided to release me from jail. But he went on to say that my arguments were "frivolous" when in fact all I was doing was again, asking for the taxing statute.

Now I believe he must have been under pressure because my friends had filed a complaint for false imprisonment, writ of habeas corpus, and a 5th Amendment brief and sent it up to the Supreme Court a week earlier. These were 10 lb packages sent to all nine justices. The same thing went to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. These were direct jurisdictional challenges which were of course never answered.

What is difficult about all of this is that we don't know what combination of paperwork worked, but it must have had a cumulative effect. It was outstanding paperwork given the amount of time they had to prepare it for me. And of course my position was simply that I wasn't going to lie on any forms of any kind.

But again, this is a typical example of government arrogance masquerading under the color of law. These courts are evil places to be in and sometimes we can't avoid them when we are taken into custody without lawful warrants, orders, or jurisdiction. It's seems to be based upon raw force of arms and not any lawful reasoning.

So I'm glad to be home and a lot of my friends were very glad and excited for my release. My friend Rick bought me a double Tequila with a salt rim, a beer, and a great Mexican lunch in Sacramento's Old Town.

However, this kind of "judicial" tyranny needs to be corrected. The court system in broken and it is in need of serious repair.

But this was a classic case of the truth versus the lie and of course the truth won out. Yes, I'm worn out from the jail experience. Some have told me that the Sacramento County Jail is one of the worst jails in the world. Some say it has a high suicide rate and it is a very depressing place to be. But my faith in God kept me going and the letters that were sent were very much appreciated.

What seemed to do the job was teamwork. Once we got our system going things happened very fast. Standing upon our rights as free men and women was indespensible in securing my freedom.

Too many in the patriot movement are going into courts wanting to argue their points when these courts won't hear it and can't hear it and the only remedy is simply shifting the burden of proof. It still comes down to the basics. We all are born with rights that come from God and not from any man-made document of law. We must make sure that when we are in the courts that we secure our rights at all costs.

We also cannot stand by will our friends take the hit and we all do nothing but whine about it. We all need more preparation in how to survive trouble when it comes.

Stand on the truth and then let God do the rest.

Regards,

Al Thompson