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http://suijurisfreeman.toddmontanye.com/ballad.htm Gotten via Bill St. Clair's blog. The Unsung Ballad of Suijurisfreeman by Winston Ward Johnson From This Claire Files Message Board thread Posted: Sep 14 2003, 09:13 AM Rather than post bits and pieces here and there on this board, I'm going to put it all on one thread, The Unsung Ballad of Suijurisfreeman, the story of one man's quest for personal freedom in America today. The sole purpose of this information is to show that you can indeed 'fight city hall' and win! But win or lose, I persevered and do in fact live my life as a free Human Being! Long live individualist-anarchism! So why have I bothered to make these drastic changes? Why have I turned my life upside down? Why did I end a 13 year marriage, give up 43 acres, house, cars, etc,, just to become a free Human Being. What would drive someone to do something this radical? Where did it all begin? I read an article in Backwoods Home Magazine, Jan/Feb 1993 issue about "Fully Informed Juries" that got me started down this road to my "outlaw life". After reading this article I finally contacted Zeno Budd in Ovid, Michigan who just happened to be holding a property rights meeting in Hillsdale, Michigan on April 19, 1993. I went to that meeting, had my "epiphany" and have never been the same since! You don't know how many times I've asked myself, "why me, why did the light bulb come on in my head? I then took on the crusade of property rights, I put together a number of articles on "land patents", printed up a catchy booklet and started passing out something like 4,000 copies in Hillsdale County, Michigan over a six month period. I found out later that the Hillsdale County Prosecutor, Michael Smith had already begun a "file" on me and that the land patent booklet was the first piece of evidence in that file. At that time my wife and I owned 43 acres just south of Hillsdale, Michigan, we were in the process of building a 40' diameter geodesic dome home. I had reluctantly taken out all the "required" permits, but was told by the Hillsdale County building inspector, Galen Borten that I didn't need to worry about getting a permit for the 15'X20' portable barn that I had built to store my tools in while I built the geodesic dome (that was in May of 1991). In August of 1992 upon returning home from a wargaming convention in Pennsylvania I had received a nasty letter from Mr. Borten stating that I needed to get that $14 permit for my portable barn after all. I went into the building inspector's office and reminded Mr. Borten that he had in fact told me that I didn't need to worry about getting that $14 building permit and that being the case I had absolutely no intention of getting one now! Well if was all down hill from there. I didn't hear any more from Mr. Building Inspector until January 10, 1994. I was in Chicago on business and when I returned my neighbor informed me that two State Police, two Hillsdale County Sheriff's deputies and the building inspector had been at my property earlier that day. I went down to the Sheriff's Department the next day to find out exactly what the problem was, I was then informed that they had a warrant for my arrest and I was then arrested for failure to get a building permit. In the State of Michigan it's a criminal offence to build without a permit, with a possible fine of $500 per day and 90 days in jail for each day without the permit, each day was a new and separate offence! Since I had built the portable barn in May of 1991, something like 2 and 1/2 years had gone by, if these people were serious, I technically was facing $450,000 in fines and a possible 230 year jail sentence! Pretty serious for not getting a $14 building permit! This time I made the mistake of posting 10% of a $250 bond, big mistake! After all I didn't want to spend any time in jail over this little problem! Even though I was advised not to, I decided to do my own legal work (pro se) and at my pretrial hearing on February 2, 1994 Judge Donald Sanderson informed me that I was not in a Constitutional Court, so I was not to be bringing up anything about the Constitution! I of course asked Judge Sanderson, "what the hell am I doing here then?" There was a trial in March of 1994, after we picked the "jury" and had opening statements, Judge Sanderson called for a recess, the assn't Hillsdale County Prosecutor, "No Deal", Neil Brady asked to speak with me, he told me that after hearing my opening statement that it sounded like I had a good case and just might win it, but that if I would just pay the $14 fee for the permit they would drop all the charges (yes they had loaded more charges on the original charge of no building permit), I guess they thought that would make me comply. I told "No Deal, Neil" that since I was originally told by Mr. Borten that I didn't need to worry about getting that permit for the barn I had absolutely no intention of getting one! And further more that even if I lost the case today, that wouldn't make me compromise my principles and do something that I was told was not necessary! The trial continued, I was found guilty, fined $200, 6 months probation and ordered to get in compliance with the building code (buy that $14 permit). I told Judge Sanderson to his face, while he sat on the bench that I would not pay the $200 and would not get in compliance with the building code. I was asked to sign a "probation order", I told the clerk that I would have to read it before I signed it, one of the conditions of probation was that I would not leave the State of Michigan without getting permission from the court first. Needless to say I told them that I would leave the State anytime that I wanted to and refused to sign the probation order! The clerk told me that they "needed" me to sign the probation order, not that I had to sign it, they needed me to sign it! You see, a probation order is a contract, if you sign said contract, you can and will be held liable for any violation of the terms and conditions of that contract. I think it was at this point that I realized that playing their game just wasn't going to cut it for me! This wasn't about "justice", it was about control, keeping all the sheep in the same pasture! The court next attempted to do a pre-sentencing investigation on me, I refused to answer questions about family members, etc. - it simply wasn't any of their business! Finally at sentencing, Judge Sanderson fined me $200, gave me 6 months probation and I was ordered to get in compliance with the building code (pay the $14 for a building permit). I told Judge Sanderson to his face, while he sat on the bench that I would not pay the $200 and would not get in compliance with the building code, in fact I told him that I would burn the barn down before I'd get that permit! I was then instructed to see the clerk about signing "my probation order", she asked me to sign it, but I said that I would have to read it first, one of the conditions of probation was that I would not leave the State of Michigan without first asking permission of the court. Needless to say, I told the clerk that I would l leave the State any time that I felt like it, without asking permission from anyone! I then refused to sign the probation order, but the clerk said, "We need you to sign it", not you have to sign it! the probation order was a contract, if I would have signed it, I could and would have been held liable for any violation of the terms and conditions of said contract! For any contract to be valid it must be entered into voluntarily, I didn't agree with the terms of their "contract" so I refused to sign it! Over the course of the next 6 months the court kept sending me notices of "probation meetings" that I was supposed to be attending, I finally just took my mailbox down so they couldn't be delivered any longer! Since that day in 1994 I've never had an "address", I receive any correspondence at General Delivery, US Post Office, Dubre, Kentucky 42731. I think it was about this time that we started holding weekly meetings at the Pittsford High School. Judge Sanderson was quoted in the Hillsdale Daily News as saying, "If Mr. Johnson and his followers don't quit making so much squeaky noises, they'll get more grease than they bargained for!" The plates for my car had expired, I decided that I didn't need "tags" for it any longer so I put a plastic sign which read, "Private Property Conveyance, UCC 1-207" on it. Jean Ventura also had this on her van, after one of my court appearances back in February or March of 1994 she was stopped by a contingent of State Police in Hillsdale, Michigan. The State Police apparently thought that I was "driving" the van because the very first thing over the one trooper's radio was, "did you get Johnson?" Jean Ventura was charged with a felony, "forged license plate" - that's why they were hoping it was me "driving" - they wanted to get me on a felony! Jean at first refused to post bond, accept or hire an attorney, but eventually gave in and did both and even did a plea bargain with them, but that's another story! And now an 'oldie' for your listening pleasure! "Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day, we lived the life we choose, we'd fight and never lose, those were the days, oh yes those were the days!" Still thinking of you Prosecutor Smith and Judge Sanderson, oh yes those were the days my friends! Did you enjoy that musical interlude? ACT II In September of 1994 while I was in Hillsdale, Michigan I was stopped by Officer Todd Holtz for no "tags" on my truck. When stopped, Officer Holtz asked to see my "driver's license" and registration and was told to step out of my truck. I asked Officer Holtz if I was under arrest, he responded, "no you aren't". I then told Officer Holtz that since I was not under arrest that I didn't need to get out of my truck. Oh, I just remember, when Officer Holtz asked to see my driver's license I responded, "What material facts give you probable cause to believe that I'm required to have a driver's license?" Officer Holtz then called for back-up! I was then questioned by a Sgt. with the Hillsdale City Police Department while I remained in my truck, I told him that before I answered any of his questions I needed to know if anything that I said would be used against me in a court of law. The Sgt. wouldn't answer my question, so there we were at a stalemate, lots of questions, but no answers! Finally the Sgt. told me to get out of my truck, I again asked if I was under arrest, he said yes. I exited my truck and was placed under arrest. By the time we got to the Hillsdale County jail it was around 7 pm, they were still attempting to "question" me, but I still had not been told whether anything that I said would be used against me in a court of law. They asked me, "You know that truck you were driving .....", I responded, "I didn't say that I was driving any truck":, I didn't say that truck was mine." This went on and on until finally they decided to call Michael Smith, the Hillsdale County Prosecutor at home to figure out what else to charge me with. He decided to charge me with the felony of "resisting and obstructing a police officer". When the Sgt. made this additional charge he made it quite clear that this was a felony charge, but I only replied, "Now that really scares the hell out of me!" So I was charged with "no operator's license", "no registration", "no insurance", "fingerprint refusal" and the really big one, "resisting and obstructing". I didn't actually refuse to have my fingerprints taken, I just pointed out that I knew what the law stated in regards to the taking of my fingerprints and that I would not co-operate with their unlawful attempt to "fingerprint/photograph" me! They already knew who I was from the building permit arrest! From my "law office" in the Hillsdale County jail I hand wrote a 27 page legal brief, "Motion to Dismiss" the next day to get the felony charge of "resisting and obstructing a police officer" dropped. The Prosecutor, Michael Smith decided to charge me with that only because I had refused to answer the nice policeman's questions! You see even if I had committed a crime, I had absolutely no obligation to answer any questions directed at me by the police, and I certainly would have been an idiot to answer questions if I had not yet been told whether or not my answers would be used against me in a court of law! I cited many court cases to prove that I in fact had not "resisted" or "obstructed" the police, I merely refused to answer their questions, something that I had a perfect right to do! In fact, if I remember correctly, I the party of the first part, could not "obstruct" a police officer, the party of the second part, it requires a party of the third part to do the actual obstructing! I think that's the legal requirement, it's been 9 years now since I used this information so I'm not quite sure. Anyway Judge Donald Sanderson heard my "Motion to Dismiss" a couple days later, the felony charge of "resisting and obstructing" and the fingerprint refusal were both dropped! This is just another example of how prosecutors and police "pile on extra charges" to intimidate the accused! The following is a brief quote from my Motion to Dismiss brief, "Comes now the person of the respondent, Winston W. Johnson, Sui Juris, in this appearing specially and not generally or voluntarily herein, to move the Court to dismiss the charge of resisting and obstructing officer (count1) as an obvious act of frustration on the part of Michael Smith, Prosecuting Attorney, who lacking any real cause of action against the Accused, resorted in desperation to make this frivolous charge." Fortunately for me I had all the information available that I needed to refute these false charges! Gawd, I just love it when a plan comes together! When I was charged with the "resisting and obstructing" count no bond was allowed (like I was going to post it anyway!) because it was a felony charge, once that charge was dropped, Judge Sanderson set my bond at 10% of $2500, but like I told him there was no way in hell that I was going to make the mistake of posting bond again! He insisted that I would not be released unless or until I did post bond. This is when my daughter drove 90 miles one-way from Elkhart, Indiana bringing a bail bondsman with her to get me bonded out of jail! Much to my daughter's dismay, I refused to be bonded out! When I was arraigned on the remaining three charges, "no operator's license", "no registration", and "no insurance", Judge Sanderson said to me, "Mr. Johnson I see that you do not have l lawyer." I replied, "That's correct!", Judge Sanderson asked, "Will you be having a lawyer today?" I replied, "Absolutely not! Judge Sanderson asked, "Will you then be representing yourself today?" I replied, "I can't represent myself, I am myself!" Judge Sanderson had a brief moment of levity! I was returned to the custody of Gerald Hicks, Sheriff of Hillsdale County, Michigan (unlawfully I might add) until I either posted bond or went to trial, but the "required" paperwork to return me to Gerald Hicks' custody was never filled out! It was all left blank! As I said earlier I had refused to post bond or get bonded out because I didn't want to give the court jurisdiction (if you don't believe that posting bond grants the court jurisdiction, read the entire bond form, front and back!) Also retaining a lawyer or accepting a court appointed lawyer grants the court jurisdiction. (See Black's Law Dictionary, 3rd Edition, page 937 under In Propria Persona, "In one's own proper person. It is a rule in pleading that pleas to the jurisdiction of the court must be plead as propria persona, because if pleaded by attorney they admit the jurisdiction, as an attorney is an officer of the court, and he is presumed to plead after having obtained leave, which admits the jurisdiction." You see if you don't understand what's going on behind the scenes, you've screwed yourself before you ever walk through the courthouse doors! Anyway two weeks went by, and I was taken before Judge Sanderson again, he informed me that he had dropped "my bond" to $0, that's right I said $0, all I needed to do was sign my name on the dotted line and I could go home! I told Judge Sanderson that I would never post bond again and that included signing the bond! Just my signature on the bond would have meant that I'd agreed to the terms and conditions of that bond! Once again I was unlawfully returned to the custody of Gerald Hicks with absolutely no "required" paperwork filled out! This time I mentioned something to one of the court clerks, she had me speak with one of the magistrates, he said, "Mr. Johnson, you ought to know by now, we make the rules around here!" I started over the counter to get to Mr. We Make the Rules Around Here, Sam Ramey, one of the Hillsdale County Sheriff's deputies grabbed me and said, "I better get you out of here before you get into trouble!" Another two weeks goes by and one of the jailers comes into the 10 man cell that I was being held in and informs everyone that the cell was being "cleared", when the cell was empty I was informed that I was being released. I said that I'd already told Judge Sanderson that I wasn't going to sign any bond agreement, but was then told that I didn't need to sign anything, I was being released! The reason that they cleared the 10 man cell was because for the past 4 week that I was being unlawfully held I kept telling the other "cellmates" that they had to let me go eventually, they couldn't hold me indefinitely just because I refused to sign the bond agreement! I was then informed that I would have to sign to get my clothes and personal effects returned to me. I refused to sign and said that I would leave the jail naked if they wouldn't give me my stuff! They gave me my stuff! Oh, I forgot to mention that after my arrest in September on those 5 charges, the police spent 3 hours trying to get 3 different tow truck companies to tow my truck, not one one of them would touch it! the police finally made one last effort to get them to tow it, they tried to call the owner of the business whose parking lot I had pulled into when Officer Holtz stopped me. The police wanted the owner to say that he didn't want my truck parked there, thereby giving them the excuse to tow my truck. The police weren't able to reach the owner so no one would tow my truck! My wife finally got a friend to take my truck back to our property south of Hillsdale. The reason that none of the tow truck companies would touch my truck is because they were already being sued by Jean Ventura for a similar incident 6 months prior to this and there was no way in hell that they were going down that road again! You see, when I was pulled over I made sure that I was on private property, that way the police couldn't just tow my truck because it was just setting along some highway. Needless to say the police weren't too happy with this situation, that's when they came down to the jail and started questioning me about "driving" that truck! Another 'oldie' for your listening pleasure! "Ahh, the games people play now, every night and every day now, never saying what they mean now, never meaning what they say ..... ...... na, na,na, na, na I'm talking about you and me, and the games people play now." Don't you just love listening to those 'oldies'? In addition to the 5 counts that I was originally charged with back in September of 1994, I was also charged with "probation violation", you know that probation order that I refused to sign! I was arraigned separately on that count. First Judge Sanderson stated that I was being arraigned for probation violation, I reminded him that I never signed any probation order! Nevertheless he insisted that I was in violation of "my probation order", but I again reminded him that I couldn't be held liable for a "contract" that I never agreed to or signed! Judge Sanderson then wanted me to raise my right hand, I asked him, "What for?" He said, "I want you to raise your right hand and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." I replied, "I'm afraid that I can't do that!" He asked, "why not?" I replied, "Because I'm a mere fallible Human Being, I could only tell the truth to the best of my ability as such!" Judge Sanderson didn't say any more about swearing me being sworn in! An interesting tidbit about the court "requirement" of taking an oath follows. While doing some more of my research 7-8 years ago I came across this little goodie. The word "testify and/or "testimony" comes from the same root Greek word as testicles, why is this? In the ancient world the male's genitals were considered sacred, therefore when swearing an oath they placed their hand on the private parts and took their oath's I'm quite serious, this is a historical fact! Check out the Old Testament's account of Abraham sending one of his servants to find a wife for his son. Abraham had his servant place his hand "on his inter thigh" as the King James Version puts it! But if you check out the original Hebrew, it was Abraham's genitals where the servant placed his hand. This is not in any way meant to be disrespectful towards the Bible, it's just a historical fact! If I were ever asked by a judge to raise my right hand and take an oath I'd say, "You want me to do what?" Back to my "probation violation" arraignment. Judge Sanderson then began questioning me about whether or not I was in compliance with the building code as he had ordered me to be at my sentencing. He stated, "I heard that you tore that barn down." I replied, "That's correct!" He then asked, "So are you saying that you're in compliance with the building code?" I replied, "Absolutely not!" Now the following is an exact quote from Judge Donald Sanderson, "For the purposes of what we're doing here today, we're going to say that you are in compliance, PROBATION TERMINATED!" My mouth just about hit the floor! Say what? Is this Orwellian double-speak, or what? And this came out of the mouth of the judge that wanted me to raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! Like I've said before, the courts today aren't about truth or justice, it's about control, power and money! None of their tactics worked on me, so Judge Sanderson just gave up, just like he did a "my trial" on January 10, 1995 that I'll be posting about! Ah, November 8, 1994 (the day I was finally released after spending 28 days in jail) how well I remember that day! Like I posted, I was finally released on November 8, 1994 by order of Judge Sanderson without my having posted or signed any bond. The first, the very first thing that I did once I got back home was to get into my unregistered, unlicensed truck and travel down to the 2nd District Courthouse where the Hillsdale County Prosecutor's office was located. I parked my truck in front of the courthouse, went up to the 2nd floor to the prosecutor's office, asked to speak with Michael R. Smith, Hillsdale County Prosecutor. I then handed him the following large pink sign, "Natural Citizen exercising right to travel in a Private Property Conveyance! Conveyance NOT registered, NOT a Motor Vehicle, NOT subject to Motor Vehicle laws. Expect prosecution under Title 42 USC 1983 and/or Title 18 USC 241, 242 for violation of a Constitutionally protected right." Mr. Smith then asked me, "You don't have that truck registered yet?" I replied, "Absolutely not!" And added, "As a matter of fact it's parked right down there (as I pointed out the window), I left his office, went back downstairs, got into my truck and traveled away! No police followed me, no police attempted to arrest me, absolutely nothing happened! OK, like I said Judge Sanderson ordered my release on November 8, 1994, without me signing any bond form. This was my whole point of remaining in jail for 28 days, I didn't want to give the court jurisdiction! On November 10, 1994 I had a number of motions scheduled to be heard by Judge Sanderson, the courtroom was packed, the bailiff entered the courtroom and said, "All rise", I and five others refused to stand, the bailiff looks at me and said, "ALL RISE" I and 5 others still refuse to stand, Judge Sanderson wheels in mid-step on his way to the bench and stormed out of the courtroom! The bailiff came out a few minutes later and announces that court is cancelled the rest of the day, it was only 9:30 am! ( I just know that when Judge Sanderson went home that night, he kept mumbling, "They wouldn't rise, they wouldn't rise .....) The reason that I didn't stand was because after being unlawfully held in the Hillsdale County jail for 28 days by order of Judge Donald Sanderson solely because I refused to first post bond, then just sign the bond, when he could have let me out on day one! After all, after 28 days he ordered my release without posting or signing any bond, he could have done so on day one! Of course all my motions were denied, but hey, it really didn't matter, I had made my point! And by the way there is no law that required me to stand when Judge Sanderson entered the courtroom, it's just a courtesy. The custom of rising began when the judge used to enter the courtroom carrying a Bible, the people were to stand out of respect for the Bible. I certainly didn't feel very courteous towards Judge Sanderson after being kept in jail for 28 days when I could have been let go on day one! Anyway a "jury trial" date was set for January 10, 1995 at 9:30 am. I filed my legal paperwork stating why I was under no legal obligation to appear for their trial and in fact did not show up for it! The following is a certified court transcript of that 2 minute trial: State of Michigan in the District Court for the County of Hillsdale The People of the State of Michigan, File No. 94-2225FY v. Winston Ward Johnson, Sr., Defendant Non-jury Trial before the Honorable Donald L. Sanderson, District Judge Hillsdale, Michigan -