Hours before being convicted Wednesday of slapping bogus multibillion-dollar liens on top federal court officials, Cherron Phillips was up to her usual tricks.
While the jury deliberated at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, Phillips, an alleged follower of the anti-government sovereign citizen movement, went to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals six floors above the trial courtroom to try to enter an emergency appeal claiming she was beyond the court’s jurisdiction.
And the night before, she’d filed a letter alleging her court-appointed attorney had “joined the judge and prosecutors in the conspiracy for slavery” and that she refused to consent to the proceedings, court records show.
On Wednesday, the years of frivolous court motions and often bizarre behavior caught up with Phillips as a federal jury convicted her of 10 counts of retaliation against a federal official by filing false claims.
Following the verdict, U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan ordered Phillips taken into custody, calling her “a paper terrorist” who “will continue on her misguided bent” if he allowed her to remain free until her sentencing in October.
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Phillips’ odd trial featured a star-studded list of witnesses that included former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and also cast a spotlight on the tactics of those who claim to be sovereign citizens, an anti-government movement whose adherents often file nonsensical, complex legal documents and refuse to accept or follow court rules.
The movement has garnered increasing attention in Chicago’s federal court system, where recent defendants such as Joseph Banks, a bank robber who made a daring escape from the federal highrise jail in the Loop, have claimed to be devotees. For more than two years, courthouse security officers have tailed Phillips around the federal courthouse whenever she has appeared on her case.
Among the victims who testified about Phillips’ liens was U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow, whose husband and mother were slain in 2005 by a crazed litigant, leading to a greater sensitivity for the security of federal officials in Chicago.
'Sovereign citizen' follower convicted in federal court in Chicago - chicagotribune.com
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