Originally Posted - June 27, 2006

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BERKLEY, MICH---It really is time to rein in the judges and to take away their black robes.

Most of them, particularly at the town and village courts where having passed the bar exam isn't a requisite, have no concept of the Bill of Rights and believe that the black robe gives them right to do whatever they chose.

If you doubt that, just take a look at the case proceeding out in Oklahoma involving former district court judge Donald Thompson and the allegations of him using a penis pump while supposedly adjudicating murder trials. Fair trial? Doubt if his mind was on the testimony.

Down in Pinellas County, Florida, Brandt Downey was caught visiting porn sites on his courtroom computer but didn't seen to see anything wrong with it, never mind the computer viruses he picked up compromised the court.

Far too many cases are landing in court because the police don't know what the First Amendment means. Due process? As long as they've got the gun and the judge has got that robe, they simply don't care. Appeal it if you don't like it, they say after you've spent hundreds or thousands of dollars and maybe even been jailed. Constitution? What Constitution The law is what we say it is their credo.

Most people don't bother to protest. They simply pay the fine and walk away. And that's what the judges, cops and prosecutors count on. It really is just a money grab most of the time. Like one local cop said---I can write you a ticket any time I want to and when we get to court, who do you think the judge is going to believe, you or me? That retired trooper has been exposed for the liar that he is. Meanwhile, it's a big money maker for the state to process those traffic tickets. Down in Saratoga County, in one day the cops wrote over 800 tickets. Think about how much money that generates for the state in fines and surcharges.

One man in Berkley, Mich., paid the fine for a parking ticket and expressed his opinion.

Mon deur, he disrespected the court. Jail him!

Robert Militzer, 38, was ticketed on May 29 for parking in front of a friend's house overnight. He says that in past occasions, he obeyed the posted signs which stated that parking on the street between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. was prohibited. But he says that on the morning he got the ticket, there were no signs there.

The judge fined him $10 which Militzer thought was unfair so when he wrote the check, he added on the memo line, "Bull (@&#*) MONEY GRAB".

Contempt of court, the judge cited him which could place him in jail for 30 days.

Baloney. What world is the judge living in? Who does he think he is? That black robe and gavel don't give him a Constitutional exemption. Maybe he didn't like the words but Militzer had a constitutionally protected right under the First Amendment to express his opinion in the manner he did without fear of reprisal.

When he goes to court Wednesday, he'll be accompanied by an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union who says that his "choice of words may not be the best, and it may offend some people, but it's not illegal".

Just like displaying the middle finger or giving "the bird". It's called freedom of expression. Even flag burning. Protected expression under the Constitution.

It's happening all across America. It's getting out of control, government trying to quash free speech, free press, free expression rights of citizens.

In Fresno, CA., the police got mad because a man, a member of a community organization trying to prevent police brutality, took photos of the police and videotaped them while they were on duty. The police went to court, trying to get a restraining order to stop him from taking pictures in a public place. Absurb. Next we'll have the thought police.

That judge, a Superior Court judge who obviously had some knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, stood up to the police and told them that the man had a First Amendment right to take pictures in the public and ordered the city to pay the man's $8,000 legal bill they caused for him to defend his rights.

The lawyer who represented the man said he would be willing to have the city pay only half of his fees if every town police officer would take part in a three hour seminar on First Amendment rights.

That should be a requirement of all police officers and all judges across the United States. Maybe that would stop some of the civil rights violations that are running rampant throughout the criminal justice system, particularly at the town and village court level.

In Warren County, NY, Sheriff Larry Cleveland and his boys need to take Civics 101 and basic constitutional law. Cleveland and Warren County are about to get a real hard lesson about First Amendment rights having arrested the North Country Gazette publisher in 1998 for taking photographs from her own property in order to memorialize the harassment of the woman and campaign contributor that Cleveland directed to harass the publisher. Seven and a half long years the case wound through the courts, Queensbury town justice Michael Muller ignoring the First Amendment. Guilty for taking pictures in the public and from your own property, Muller cried, sentencing the publisher to jail, guilty for using the public highway, guilty for existing. The real verdict was guilty for publishing The North Country Gazette and exposing the wrongdoing in the sheriff's department and judicial misconduct.

But when the special prosecutor who ripped the county taxpayers off for over $50,000 to violate the publisher's rights was forced off the case when he became a judge, the new prosecutor, a constitutional scholar and advocate, moved to reverse and dismiss because all accused conduct was protected under the First Amendment. Finally, 7 ½ years later, the entire case was overturned. Sheriff Larry and Queensbury judge Muller were found to have violated the publisher's rights. They used their positions and tax dollars to exercise a vendetta against the publisher----and lost. On to federal court.

Contempt---that's what the Ohio judges have used to try to stop judicial whistleblower Elsebeth Baumgartner from exercising her free speech rights and stop her from exposing the rampant corruption in the court system. Thing is, their handling of her case has served to spotlight the corruption and their judicial wrongdoing. While they thought they could contain the matter to northern Ohio, now the whole country is aware and watching it. Virtually every time Elsebeth Baumgartner tries to express her opinion, to exercise her constitutional rights, Judge Richard Markus, Judge Richard Knepper, Shirley Strickland Saffold and others egregiously violate her rights, incarcerating her and impose heavy monetary sanctions on her, trying to shut her up and shut her down. As long as can keep it in the round robin courts of northern Ohio, they may get away with it but when it gets into the federal courts, the Constitution will indeed be recognized as the Supreme Law of the land. The latest denial of her Sixth Amendment rights in a Star Chamber proceeding by Knepper is memorialized in the court transcript. Automatic grounds for reversal. Let Erie County pay her the going rate of $55,000 a day for her illegal 45-day incarceration, denial her counsel and then finding her in contempt without counsel.

While all of the above are blatant constitutional violations and an abuse of the judicial office, what occurred in Warrensburg Town Court, Warren County, NY, a couple of weeks ago with town justice Richard Nissen officiating was right out of Nazi Germany. It's hard to believe such things are happening in the town courts across this Republic. Oh yeh, Nissen says we don't live in a Republic. To make it worse, standing by and allowing the egregious violations to occur was a prosecutor from the Warren County District Attorney's office who actually started laughing during the proceeding, turning away from the judge and guffawing towards the audience, but taking no steps to stop the judicial tyranny as he is constitutionally mandated to do.

The defendant has challenged the jurisdiction of Nissen in that the multiple charges against him allegedly occurred in another town which is not contiguous. Along comes Warren County Judge John S. Hall again---seems like wherever there's a controversy in Warren County involving judicial misconduct and constitutional rights, Hall's in the middle of it. The defendant did not request transfer from the court of original jurisdiction, he did not move for disqualification of the judges nor did the People, at least on the record, as is required before a change of venue can occur. It now appears that the judges and the district attorney's office had a secret conference, a prohibited ex parte communication without the knowledge of the defendant. According to court papers gleaned (Warrensburg is withholding the docket sheet) the prosecutor moved for a change of venue of April 27 and Hall granted it. However, it was done contrary to Civil Practice Law and Rules which requires that notice be served on the defendant and he be given at least 8 days to answer. Instead, the record shows that Hall immediately moved the charges to Warrensburg, saying that the defendant had no objection. Naturally he had no objection, he hadn't been notified and was denied his due process right to be present and heard. He wasn't even notified of the alleged court hearing.

When the defendant appeared for arraignment, Nissen placed a gag order on him and told him he could not speak. It was a charade as Nissen proceeded through the arraignment, asking questions of the defendant which he could not answer because if he did, Nissen would find him in contempt of violating the gag order---and that was exactly what Nissen had in mind, he was itching to find the defendant in contempt of court and jail him for having dared challenged his jurisdiction and exercised his constitutional rights. It was all about control, of teaching the defendant a lesson for daring to believe in the Constitution. Constitutionalist has become a dirty word. After Nissen continued his ridiculous denial of the man's due process rights and equal treatment under the law, asking questions and then answering for the defendant, finally the defendant passed a note to the judge protesting which caused great amusement for the prosecutor----but not enough for the People to intercede to protect the man's rights.

Nissen has adjourned the case to some undetermined date in July for some undetermined reason, has not allowed any motion practice under CPL 255 and says that a trial will be held "sometime in August".

Richard Nissen has been in trouble with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct previously and it looks like he's destined for another well warranted investigation.

The Unified Court System had a problem understanding that the state laws required that these town and village justices had to file their oaths of office in three places and if they did not do so, they have vacated their judicial offices as a matter of law.

But an even more disturbing fact is that the Unified Court System and the judges in it are decimating people's constitutional rights and really don't seem to care. Perhaps it's time for New York State's Unified Court System and every police agency in the state including the NY State Police, NYPD and yes, Larry, even the Warren County Sheriff's Department, to take a mandated course in constitutional rights, especially First Amendment rights.

First Amendment rights are not dirty words. 6-27-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette