Sovereign Citizens on Trial for 'Paper Terrorism'

Democracy may not be on trial, but Tom Murphy and Jeff Lind are. The two have ties to the anti-government “sovereign citizen” movement and are accused of conspiring to file a false lien against the Solvang home of a Santa Barbara County judge in a lengthy and bizarre series of legal challenges and political protests that dates back to 2010. They each face felony counts and maximum sentences of three years and eight months in prison, and their trial is scheduled to start this week.

The saga began when Lind, a marketing executive who lives in Orcutt and works in nearby San Luis Obispo, allegedly threatened a police officer who had arrested his son for driving under the influence. Lind was charged with witness intimidation and ordered to appear before Judge Kay Kuns. Claiming to not recognize the court’s authority over him, Lind — with help from Murphy, a dogged sovereign citizen crusader living in Los Osos at the time — loosed an avalanche of filings and paperwork claiming $77 million in damages against Kuns for violating his rights.

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Cota also noted that the names of dozens of people with bare involvement in the case — from Sheriff Bill Brown to county administrative staffers — appear in filings and online postings created by the pair. Some of the documents are labeled with assault weapon models, and many contain veiled threats, Cota said. On Monday, Murphy and/or Lind distributed fake arrest warrants for Cota, DA Joyce Dudley, Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, and others. The warrants were issued by Murphy’s fabricated organization, the National Standards Enforcement Agency out of Missouri that purports to convene its own Grand Jury.

What struck me from this article, "The warrants were issued by Murphy’s fabricated organization, the National Standards Enforcement Agency out of Missouri that purports to convene its own Grand Jury." Which reminded me of this article and a 2 1/2-hour conversation that ensued.

While the former article mentions National Standards Enforcement Agency. The latter talks about The National Liberty Alliance a group that has "drawn from more mainstream Republican and Tea Party activists than typical sovereign citizen organizations."

Regardless of which group is "more" legitimate and which group is doing what, the ideology behind the Sovereign Movement is a thorn in law enforcements side and they are dangerous; from the courts down to the beat cop.

As my conversation partner so aptly put it,

People that have never studied law or actually read the Constitution suddenly become legal experts based on misinformation bandied about on the fringe sites, Many get so wrapped up in this distorted worldview that they lose all sense of perspective. Their critical thinking skills have been trumped by fear, paranoia and false ideologies. At some point, it crosses the line from foolish to dangerous,,, The dynamics of it all are complex, People are lazy, and seek to oversimplfy everything. Human nature seeks to assign catchall labels to anything complicated.

Sovereign Citizens on Trial for 'Paper Terrorism'