Cherron Phillips seemed to waver moments after a federal judge sentenced her to seven years in prison Tuesday for filing a series of bogus multibillion-dollar liens on top court officials.
Phillips, a devotee of the sovereign citizen movement that doesn't accept court rules, told U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan she was confused. She wanted the advice of her court-appointed attorney, a lawyer she'd previously refused to cooperate with and flat-out ignored during her trial.
"I'd like to speak to Miss ..." Phillips said in a quiet voice that trailed off.
"Solomon," Reagan reminded her.
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The judge was not swayed, however. His sentence was beyond the recommended federal guidelines and six months more than what even prosecutors had requested.
In his ruling, Reagan called Phillips' attempts to harass and intimidate public officials "death by a thousand paper cuts." He also noted that she continued her campaign even as her trial approached, sending letters to him and to prosecutors naming them as defendants in a lawsuit purportedly filed in Washington.
In asking Reagan to consider probation, Solomon said the sovereign citizen ideology is driven by a deep-rooted mistrust of the justice system and only inflamed in prison by those who feel that the weight of the government is stacked against them.
"Can we really solve this problem with incarceration?" Solomon said. "How powerless do they feel, in the face of the overwhelming power of the federal government … to have to go to this ideology that is nonsensical at best?"
'Sovereign citizen' given 7 years in prison - Chicago Tribune
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