Cherron Marie Phillips indicted

[morrand]

At the risk of interrupting a nasty fight, and realizing that we already know how day 3 turned out:

From the ground: day 2.

As the mild-looking woman in the beige suit entered the witness box, about a half a dozen young men and women lined the back bench of the courtroom gallery, chatting lightly among themselves. The judge can't help but notice. "Are you law students?" he asks them. "If you are, feel free to come up to the front."

"No," one replies, "we're Judge Lefkow's staff." The woman in the witness box, their boss, waves to them, and they wave back. They're comfortable where they are, anyway.

Where Ms. Phillips is, is unclear. It's nine o'clock, and she's not at the defense table. It takes her another eight minutes to make her appearance. She sets her handbag on the table and pulls out some paperwork as the judge comes down to the table. "OK," he begins, "on the record—"

"Could you speak up, please, Judge?" says the recorder.

"On the record and in open court," repeats Judge Reagan, a little louder, "and out of the presence of the jury: I know that you usually have a statement to make before we begin. Would you like to make your statement, Ms. Phillips?"

"Yes, Judge," she says, level, reading from her paper. "I have a housekeeping matter—"

"Speak up, please."

"I have a housekeeping matter. I do not consent to these proceedings. I have not consented to surety, and I demand bond to indemnify me..." It's coming out briskly enough that my longhand fails me, and I miss the next couple of lines. "...Standby counsel represents the defendant, and therefore assumes all liability for the contract with the court."

"Thank you." The judge returns to the bench. A couple of minutes later, the jury comes in, and the day begins.

Witness number 6 is, as I said, Judge Joan Lefkow, of the Northern District of Illinois. She has been a district judge since 2000. (As an aside, Judge Lefkow's husband and mother were murdered by an irate litigant in 2005; this point keeps being brought out in local coverage, though rightly was not mentioned in testimony.) She was "surprised and dismayed" to learn of the maritime lien against her. She recalled the trial of Devon Phillips (Ms. Phillips's brother), over which she presided—actually, "trial" isn't quite right, as he pleaded guilty in the end, but the "many, many hearings" that it took to get to that point were in her court. She remembers Ms. Phillips, and came to know her through Devon's case, as Ms. Phillips was a regular attendee. Judge Lefkow remembers the defendant as having had a "very confident bearing," and that she wore a scarf on her head, "kind of like a hat." Cross examination brought out that Devon Phillips put in many pro se filings. He had counsel appointed for him, but wouldn't cooperate, and wouldn't self-represent. Still, eventually, one of his several appointed attorneys managed to get through to him. It is OK to file on your own behalf while pro se, she continued, and it's OK to get help from someone else, as long as they don't hold themselves out as a representative. The lien only came to her attention when the US Marshals brought it to her: she had no real estate, and no idea whether the lien attached to any real estate. However, on recross, the prosecutor pointed out the exhaustive list of properties on the lien, and asked whether Judge Lefkow had any of them, such as bank accounts or jewelry, and of course she does. Re-cross countered by asking whether any of these had been interfered with, and it does not seem as though any have.

Examination over, Judge Lefkow was excused from the stand, and her staffers pile out into the hall. As she comes into the gallery to leave the courtroom, she stops to greet the courtroom artist. He shows her his work, and she's pleased with how he's depicted her.

Witness #7 is Patrick Fitzgerald, former US Attorney, and no doubt the star witness as far as local coverage goes. (Mr. Fitzgerald's photo has graced many of the news stories on this case, until fairly recently; whether that can be traced to star power, or just to the easier availability of his photo in the newspaper archives, is anyone's guess.) Regrettably, I was overcome with a nasty coughing fit during his testimony, and had to step out lest I wind up making more of a disturbance than the defendant, who, I must admit, had been behaving herself quite well. At any rate, I have noted down that he testified consistently with the other prosecution witnesses so far: he got the lien through the Marshals, he was shocked by it, he didn't owe Devon Phillips any money, and so on. As the celebrity witness, his testimony was already covered pretty well in the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, and I don't suppose that I can add much to that, except to mention that the gallery was quite full while he testified, and got much emptier once he was released.

Witness #8 was Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys. Again, Judge Keys was involved with Devon Phillips's case, though really just for his arraignment and one or two other, minor, events. He got the lien through the Marshal's office. He also got a "Forgive Me" letter, which he handed off to the Marshals. (Happily for us, his lien actually got projected onto the big screen in court, and I was able to copy down Cook County Document #1110931008, for anyone who's interested in seeing it.) Cross examination focused on the magistrate judge's caseload (about 3-400 criminal cases a year, and 7-800 civil cases), and that Ms. Phillips didn't particularly stand out in his mind. He's not sure if the lien attached to his real estate, or to any other property.

Witness #9 was Presiding Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown. Like Judge Keys, she was only tangentially involved in Devon Phillips's case—very tangentially, in her case, as she only continued a previous detention order, and received the superseding indictment in his case, and that was all. She got the lien from the US Marshals, and, seeing the names on it, thought, "I'm in good company here!" But she was also shocked that someone would do that, and worried about its financial impact on her, though she was not aware that it actually had any. She was also disturbed by her copy of the "Forgive Me" letter, and its appearance in chambers. Cross examination focused on this last point: was it shocking to get letters from defendants, or from their families? No, that's common enough during sentencing, but there's a context to that, and this isn't it. Cross examination also emphasized the very minor role that Judge Brown had played in the Devon Phillips case, and, again, brought out that she hadn't seen any practical impact of the lien in her finances. In fact, she hadn't got any notice of the lien attaching. Judge Reagan then interposed a question of his own: when a real estate lien is filed, the title company's not monitoring for that, so don't they only mention it when you go to sell? Judge Brown agreed with that, and she hadn't tried to sell since then. The defense then followed onto that: well, you could search, so why haven't you if you're so worried? Because I wasn't selling, so the expense wasn't worth it, she answers.

We go to a short break. The law students who are following this are having an unusually good time of it. It's a fun case to watch, though they're perplexed, and they discuss it in the hall. I can't help myself, and I jump in to explain as much of it as I can, which isn't much. (I did get in a couple of plugs for Quatloos in the process. Hello students!) As we chat, the courtroom security officer comes over, and fills in some of the history as well. He says this all goes back to the El Rukn gang, who'd engaged in some of the same paper jiggery as is involved here. The students and the CSO also marvel at the fact, brought out yesterday, that Ms. Phillips had a Mercedes to seize (you will recall, perhaps, that one of the federal agents had assisted in its forfeiture after her brother used it during a drug deal), so evidently isn't hurting for money. "Mom and Dad are in jail for narcotics, too," says the officer, which is an angle I hadn't heard up until now. (The latest story in the Tribune partially backs this up, though it says there that they have been convicted of tax evasion, not drugs.)

Back inside, witness #10 is Karl Barnes. Mr. Barnes is not a judge, or a prosecutor, or a court clerk. Mr. Barnes works as a QC man for the Ford Motor Company, and has for 23 years, and for a moment, it's not clear how he's related to this case. Certainly, the news isn't as interested in him. But it all becomes clear when the prosecution hands him a thick registered mail envelope, Government Exhibit #30, and asks him to examine the papers inside. Yes, he recognizes them, he says. He'd signed them as a notary. He goes on to say that River Tali brought him these papers to notarize, and he didn't need to ask her for an ID before signing the papers, because he'd grown up with her and knew her well. In fact, she once went by the name Cherron Phillips, her brothers were Wayne and Devon Phillips, and she was sitting in court at the defense table. The prosecution puts these papers on the screen for all to see: a Common Law Bill of Indictment, a Common Law Summons, and a couple of others, all signed in red by River Tali (whose signature is verified by Mr. Barnes), although it comes out that he did not see her put the red thumbprints onto the documents at the time that they were signed. Mr. Barnes also signed the cover letter for this packet, though he claims that (in line with his notary's training) he never read it first, and, contrary to what it says, he never was involved in its mailing. Cross examination was a little wide-ranging, after this: that cover letter is untrue, but then, he couldn't have notarized it anyway, having signed it in his own name; the common law bill of indictment was notarized by three others, and not Mr. Barnes; he did this as a favor to River Tali and not for money; he isn't in the business of reading documents, since he's not an attorney and wants to stay out of other people's business. It also brought out that getting a thumbprint isn't actually all that odd: current rules in Cook County call for a thumbprint on quitclaim deeds, though that's all.

Let me interject at this point that I considered Mr. Barnes to be the star of the show. He had, in his short time on the stand, completely eliminated any question of identity as far as the first round of paper terrorism was concerned (assuming the thumbprints wouldn't have given it away). I've always wondered at how the notaries who seal all of these bogie documents justify it, and I've actually now got an answer. But it also begs a question: since the point of a notary is, in part, to vouch for the identity of a document's signer, doesn't it seem like a really lousy plan to dump a threatening bogus bill of indictment and arrest warrant onto federal law enforcement officials, but first have it notarized (by a friend, no less)? It was also good to see some examples of the paperwork projected up on the screen, red thumbprints and all.

Witness #11 was Justin Williams, special agent for the DEA, assigned to Bangkok (and, no doubt, being brought back as a witness at great public expense, too). He testified consistently with the other victims: he'd been involved in the investigation of Devon Phillips; he was brought the lien (though by the US Attorney's office, this time), and was angry about it; he knew Devon Phillips's sister, and identified her in court; he wasn't aware of the lien having any real effects. His testimony took us up to lunch break.

After lunch, waiting in the hall, it comes home just how badly this case has hit home for the court. One of the court staff is waiting in the hall, too, and the deputy clerk for the court next door greets her. "Oh, no, she didn't get you too?" she asks. "No, I'm just watching," is the reply. It would seem that the bad liens had been going around the Northern District like a bad flu, and everyone's heard of them, especially now that the case is getting some intensive press. It's got to be a worry, even for the ones who had nothing to do with Devon Phillips. Did my name happen to show up on any of those papers? Was it my stamp that came down on the indictment, the minute order? Who might have followed me out as I went to get the jury's lunches from next door? The Cook County Recorder has recently started a service where you can subscribe to free notifications of any filings against your deed, and I can't quite help but think that this case has helped drive that. Surely the Northern District's judges, attorneys, clerks, and staff have had enough to worry about that such a service is quite sensible.

Back in court, witness #12 is Captain Noel Sanchez of the Chicago Police. He was a sergeant in 2006, though, and was deputized to the DEA to work drug trafficking cases. He was involved with the arrest of Devon Phillips, though not directly, but as the supervisor who approved the case report. He, too, got a lien against him, and it's at this point that the defense finally seems to start coming up with one. The lien names him as a boat? Yes. Isn't that unusual? I guess so, yes. And it's addressed to the owner at a PO Box in San Juan; how about that? No, that doesn't make much sense, either. And the dollar figure? Likewise. And you haven't had any real problems from this? No. I can see now that defense counsel has decided to attack the believability of the liens, which seems like quite a sensible plan, really. Perhaps Ms. Phillips agrees: while she spent the first day as far from counsel as she could get, today they are both seated at the same end of the table, and they seem to be working together more. Aside from that, Ms. Solomon also pointed out that, as a DEA deputy, Sgt. Sanchez continued on the payroll of the Chicago Police, a clear hint that she's going to argue that he wasn't a federal officer at the time the liens were filed.

Witness #13 is Sgt. Eric Cato, of the Chicago Police, who also had been deputized to the DEA, and was the undercover officer to whom Devon Phillips actually sold 3 kilos of cocaine. He also acted as witness at Devon Phillips's sentencing. Like the others, he was shocked by the lien, but it hadn't otherwise interfered with his life. Like Cpt. Sanchez, he too remained on the payroll of the Chicago Police during his stint with the DEA.

Witness #14 is Sgt. Andre Thompson of the Chicago Police. He, too, had been on the DEA task force that arrested Devon Phillips; in fact, he had also purchased narcotics from Devon, and was on the takedown team that arrested him. He, too, testified in sentencing, and remembers Devon's sister advising him during that hearing. He began to tell of how he became aware of Cherron Phillips when he pulled the dealer's jacket for a Mercedes that Devon had been driving. On the day of the bust, she had—the defense objects loudly at this point, and after a brief sidebar, the question is withdrawn. Like the other Chicago Police witnesses, he remained a Chicago Police officer while a deputy DEA agent, and like the others, the lien had not affected his finances at all. Ms. Solomon asked him whether Devon Phillips was represented by counsel at sentencing. That stumped Sgt. Thompson for a while. He went back and forth a bit. He wasn't sure. Mr. Stump, the prosecutor, stood and offered a stipulation, but Ms. Solomon rebuffed it. Sgt. Thompson finally remembers that, yes, as a matter of fact he was represented. This was satisfactory, and Ms. Solomon relinquished him.

Witness #15 was Kevin Powers, division counsel for the DEA. He explained the process of deputization: functionally, once an officer is deputized, he or she is a federal agent, though paid his or her base salary from his or her home payroll. He authenticated the paperwork deputizing the three Chicago Police officers who had testified before him. Cross examination, perhaps having spent its drama for the hour on the previous witness, merely clarified that Mr. Powers was not himself a law enforcement officer, but came from a legal background, and that all of the officers had completed their time with the DEA task force.

Witness #16 was Rob Simmons, special agent for the FBI in Chicago. Agent Simmons had been involved with the execution of the search warrant against Ms. Phillips's home, and he identified photos of her home, a bedroom in her home, and a safe that was found and opened in that bedroom. The first shows a large but somewhat saggy two-story house; the second shows a terribly unkempt room, or one end of it anyway (and it's clearly not just in disorder because it's being searched: the TV, for example, is set up on one of those large plastic storage bins that people keep sweaters or dog kibble in); the third is not easily visible on the screen, due to some glare. They had been searching for the original maritime liens, and found them in that safe. Cross examination focused on the mechanics of the search: it took about 19 federal agents (plus some unspecified number of Chicago police officers) to conduct the search, though Ms. Phillips was cooperative in opening the safe and there was only her, two other women, and two small children inside. Redirect explained the show of force by the size of the house, and also brought out that the agents had broken down the front doors in order to get in. This set off re-cross: how long did it take before you broke down the doors? About 30 seconds. At 6:10 in the morning, would it be surprising to take that long getting to the door? Well, no, but, see, that's 30 seconds after one of the other officers saw movement inside. Are you aware of how much damage you did to the house? This question brought an objection from the prosecution, but the judge allowed the question, "barely." Yes, was the answer: two doors were forced in.

Witness #17 was Josh Rongitsch, special agent for the FBI in Chicago. Agent Rongitsch also has been assisting Mr. Stump with prosecuting the case: it's to him that Mr. Stump has been looking, with each witness, to make sure that everything has been covered. Agent Rongitsch wasn't involved in Devon Phillips's case, but he was involved with Cherron Phillips's case, and in fact was the lead investigator. As such, he had a lot to say about it. He received copies of the mailings that had gone to Judge Holderman and Patrick Fitzgerald (the "Common Law Indictment," and so on), and, having worked another case with similar paperwork, thought there might also be false liens involved. He went through some of the paperwork, and suspected the defendant due partially to the order of the District's Executive Committee restraining her access to the court. So he went to search at the Recorder's office. At first, he only found two or three liens, and was at a standstill until Mr. Dobbins's lien was uncovered when he had tried to sell his parking space. With that as a template, he was then able to search more thoroughly, and ultimately came up with nine liens.

Meanwhile, Ms. Phillips had complained of mortgage fraud to the FBI. With her contact information in hand, Agent Rongitsch went to visit her. She didn't answer the door, so he left his card on a black Cadillac Escalade that was in front of the house, inviting her to call him. She did, and they finally met in a coffee shop near the FBI office to talk. He was accompanied by SA Ken Wheeler, who had led the other, similar case; Ms. Phillips, for her part, was accompanied by Klonoa-El (a.k.a. Sharon Jameson, who notarized one of the liens). Ms. Phillips complained about the bank's handling of the mortgages on four of her properties: she felt that she had satisfied the loans, but after the bank had failed and been taken over, the new bank tried to collect anyway. (The defense objected on relevance, and the objection was sustained.)

The FBI decided to ignore the complaint, there being no sign of criminal activity, but while they had her there, they wanted to ask about the liens. Ms. Phillips confirmed that they'd been filed, and also that she had legally changed her name to River. He showed her the common law bill of indictment, and asked her the meaning of it. She indicated that she intended for Judge Holderman to be arrested by the US Marshals. At this point, Agent Rongitsch attempted to serve her with a subpoena for her fingerprints, but she refused, saying something about how her fingerprints were her own private property, and she walked out. Agent Rongitsch subsequently found two more liens, and sent them all out for fingerprint analysis.

On the day of the search, the inside of the house was not neat and orderly, and so Agent Rongitsch determined that more agents would be needed to search it. He corroborated Agent Simmons's account of the entry: according to him, they forced the outer door, and found Ms. Phillips standing behind a glassed inner door, refusing to open unless the agents first showed her the warrant. They wouldn't, and as Ms. Phillips turned to walk away, they forced the inner door too. She expressed some concern about her two-year-old son, so Agent Rongitsch escorted her through an uncleared (i.e., unchecked by law enforcement) section of the house to get her son. He showed her the search warrant, and asked about the liens, to which Ms. Phillips replied that there only were copies in the house. He also asked about her "world passport," and she said it was in an undisclosed location. He asked her about the liens again. She said that she felt she had a right to remedy on behalf of her brother: that his conviction had been unjust, and that the liens rectified it. She did not admit filing them, however, saying that "a group"—Common Law—" might have filed on her behalf."

Ultimately, the safe was discovered. Ms. Phillips was brought up to open it, only to find out that the electronic lock had dead batteries in it. Someone went and got fresh batteries and put them in, and she did finally open the safe. Inside were the original liens, along with her "World Passport" (which was circulated to the jury, sating their curiosity if not the gallery's), a court order changing Cherron Marie Phillips to River Tali-Bey, some notes on "Maritime Liens and Mortgages," and her application to the Moorish Nation for credentials.

Some notes on these last two items, which the prosecution was good enough to project on the screen. The application (government's exhibit 37) was entitled, "Application for Moorish Great Seal, Tax ID, Nationality and Right to Travel Card," addressed to "US Copy & ID Center" in Philadelphia. On this, Ms. Phillips (as River Tali Marie-El Bey, or something along that line) listed her address as a PO Box in the Washitaw Nation. The notes on "Maritime Liens and Mortgages" included a reference to http://www.marlegal.com/mllie.html (and I haven't checked that link, so browser beware), with the notation, "maritime liens - print out."

Ms. Phillips was subsequently arrested immediately after dropping her son off at day care, after which they took her fingerprints and compared them to the various documents.

Cross examination started off by examining the effects of the liens: only one had actually encumbered real estate, and in fact there was no record against some of the PINs (the property ID numbers, or the index numbers for real estate in Cook County). In fact, only two of the PINs involved actually associated to the victims of the liens. Counsel then asked whether Agent Rongitsch had searched in the public or the real estate section of the recorder's office, and he couldn't remember. (As well he might not: I've been in there, myself, and it's not two different sections at all, though the testimony from the previous day certainly left that impression.) There also was nothing illegal about the Moorish paperwork or the name change, correct? No, I suppose not.

Redirect was fairly brief. The most interesting thing was that Agent Rongitsch testified that Betty Phillips (Cherron's mother) may have changed her name to Tsmara-El, which shows on one receipt, and "Wayne" (perhaps as in Wayne Phillips) shows on another. Agent Rongitsch asked Ms. Phillips about this, and she said her parents wouldn't have been involved.

Witness #18 was Michael Rees, a special agent for the FBI, who was in the arrest team that captured Ms. Phillips. He testified that she was non-compliant, though not really fighting, and demanded to know the arresting officers' names, so that she could file liens against them too. As far as he knew, however, none had been. Cross focused on the effects of the arrest on Ms. Phillips's son, and the officers' concern for his welfare; redirect came back with the assertion that arresting her then and there was done precisely out of a concern for her son's welfare, so that he wouldn't have to see his mother arrested.

This ended the testimony for the day. The judge stressed to the jury, once again, not to watch or listen to the news, before sending them home, and related how, that very morning, there were two people in the gym next to him discussing the case, and who kept referring to the defendant as "Mr. Phillips." After the jury was gone, he went over to the defense table, and offered them the use of his watch: both the defendant and her attorney, he pointed out had been late (Ms. Solomon had come back from lunch tardy), and he emphasized to them that trial starts at 9. Don't be late.

-----

Unfortunately, I couldn't be late, because I couldn't be there at all today, since I had to go and earn my living elsewhere. A pity: I would very much like to have heard the defense, though from the news reports, it sounds like it was focused on the notion that nobody could take these liens seriously (which didn't work), with a side issue of whether the Chicago Police officers had been federal agents when the liens were filed (which worked). But I hope that gives a good picture of what happened during the prosecution's case, anyway.

[Jeffrey]

So who was her Moorish Guru?

[Burnaby49]

Vastly more detail than I can get into my court report notes, you must be a much faster writer. I just try to go with the general flow and often even fail at that. So, impressive job!

[LightinDarkness]

Great report Morrand, even though we know how it ends...I love my popcorn eating moments reading about how we got there. By the way, do you (or any of the other forum members) know why Phillips was allowed to make sov'run gibberish statements out of the presence of the jury? It seems to me like the jury should be there. After all, if Philips wishes to continue to shoot herself in the foot why shouldn't she be allowed to do so?

[Burnaby49]

Great report Morrand, even though we know how it ends...I love my popcorn eating moments reading about how we got there. By the way, do you (or any of the other forum members) know why Phillips was allowed to make sov'run gibberish statements out of the presence of the jury? It seems to me like the jury should be there. After all, if Philips wishes to continue to shoot herself in the foot why shouldn't she be allowed to do so?

Probably this June 12th entry from morrand;

In other news, the Government's motion in limine was granted, prohibiting Ms. Phillips from arguing ignorance of the law. In particular:

Furthermore, allowing Phillips to interject her personal legal theories would certainly confuse the jury, contrary to Federal Rule of Evidence 403.

Let there be no doubt, it is the Court that will provide the jury with the relevant law by way of the jury instructions. (See Government’s Jury Instruction No. 1 (7th Cir. Pattern Jury Instruction 1.01), to which Defendant did not object during the jury instruction conference).

The 404(b) evidence is in, too, although the term, "domestic terrorist," is out. Weirdly, the Court's read of the defense motion on that subject is that "there is no objection to the terms 'sover[e]ign citizen' and 'patriot movement.' " I don't know where this leaves the suggested stipulation between the prosecution and defense; I would suggest, however, that the sovereign citizen movement isn't really well known in the Chicago area, so that term might not be helpful to the prosecution (much less prejudicial to the defense) without a lot of extraneous explanation. Reference to the "patriot movement" might get more of a reaction, but not by much. So there might not be much to be gained or lost either way by ruling those terms in or out at this point.

The judge might have been concerned that her statement would contained comments she had been ordered not to make to the jury so he was screening them. It turned out that her comments, that she hadn't consented to proceedings and making standby counsel liable for everything, were totally irrelevant to the charges of filing liens against federal employees and therefore not given to the jury.

[wserra]

she gets to sit in custody until sentencing

And likely well after.

[The Observer]

Obs, you're way off base.

You are right. My intention was not to offend you, I thought that the wording of your previous post was a bit vague and invited some humor. Similar to the situation where I had "perceived" that Burnaby49 had shown up to court without "pants" and expressed shock and amazement at that non-event. Good thing for me was that Burnaby could see the humor in the situation and played along with it.

I certainly did not believe that you married a serial sexual harrasser. But what my intent was and what I believe does not matter if you come away personally offended. My attempt at humor failed and I should be accountable for it. Please accept my apologies for my poor judgment.

[notorial dissent]

My reading on the speech out of the jury's presence was to give her a chance to have her say without letting her tread off in to the world of sovrun nonsense and fantasy and then then have to deal with it after he'd ruled against allowing it. She obviously didn't like it either.

[morrand]

Vastly more detail than I can get into my court report notes, you must be a much faster writer. I just try to go with the general flow and often even fail at that. So, impressive job!

You're very kind to say so, thanks! May I also say that I have enjoyed your reports as well.

My reading on the speech out of the jury's presence was to give her a chance to have her say without letting her tread off in to the world of sovrun nonsense and fantasy and then then have to deal with it after he'd ruled against allowing it. She obviously didn't like it either.

This was pretty much my take on it, too. This was the judge's attempt to humor her without having to answer a lot of bizarre questions later from a confused jury. I must admit that Ms. Phillips was actually quite well behaved, more so than I would have expected—although, in fairness, the judge did warn her, repeatedly, that she'd be ejected if she acted out in front of the jury. Whether it was the carrot or the stick, or some hidden factor, that kept her in line, I couldn't say.

And in truth, if she does act out for the jury, and they convict her, how much of the conviction was based on the evidence, and how much on her behavior in court? I'm not sure whether a conviction drawn by a defendant's misbehavior is reversible, but it's certainly hard to be sure it was fair.

[Gregg]

From Patrick Pretty

We first wrote about Cherron Marie Phillips in November 2012, after she was arrested on charges that she had filed bogus liens against a chief U.S. District Judge, a U.S. District Judge, two U.S. Magistrate Judges, a former U.S. Attorney, an assistant U.S. Attorney, a federal court clerk, four federal Task Force officers and a federal agent.

That just begs me for a punch line.

..and a partridge in a pear tree!
..and the horse you rode in on!

[Pottapaug1938]

From Patrick Pretty

We first wrote about Cherron Marie Phillips in November 2012, after she was arrested on charges that she had filed bogus liens against a chief U.S. District Judge, a U.S. District Judge, two U.S. Magistrate Judges, a former U.S. Attorney, an assistant U.S. Attorney, a federal court clerk, four federal Task Force officers and a federal agent.

That just begs me for a punch line.

..and a partridge in a pear tree!
..and the horse you rode in on!

Two game wardens, seven hunters, and a cow (thank you, Tom Lehrer)....

[notorial dissent]

An interesting article on Cherron, courtesy of Fogbow.
raw story article

[morrand]

On October 14, 2014, according to the Chicago Tribune, Cherron Phillips was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

As Wes posted, Judge Reagan preceded this with a comprehensive sentencing memorandum.

[LightinDarkness]

The Tribune article says that the judge gave her a sentence that is even longer than the guidelines recommend due to her sov'run antics. Just goes to show you how absolutely self-destructive and stupid sovereign citizens can be - not only end up in jail, but end up with more time than you would have if you had used a lawyer and not gone sov'run on the court from the beginning. Cherron did eventually end up using a lawyer if I remember correctly, but by then it was to late.

What is most fascinating about these cases is that despite all the in-your-face evidence that sov'run antics don't work, they just keep doing it throughout their entire case. From the indictment to trial to sentencing, Cherron didn't ever completely stop with the sov'run stuff. Despite all signs showing that it was only making things worse.

In these sort of cases I am not sure where the line is between just stupid and mentally ill.

[Jeffrey]

Aye, read the memo in the other thread (or perhaps it should be merged) for his reasoning.

Worth noting that the Memo seems to indicate involvement by Taj Tarik Bey given that Cherron attempted to get paperwork from Great Seal Moors, which is Taj's outfit.

[morrand]

The final sentencing documents were posted to PACER a few days ago. The short version:

• 84 months on each count (except 6 and 9, regarding liens directed at two Chicago Police Officers, on which she was acquitted), served concurrently.
• $1,000 fine, payable in $100 monthly installments. Or, 10% of income, which seems difficult for someone in custody of the Bureau of Prisons, but given Ms. Phillips's history, might not be all that far-fetched.
• 3 years of supervised release on each count (served concurrently), with conditions prohibiting possession of a weapon and cooperation with DNA testing. The court waived substance abuse testing, which seems reasonable under the conditions.
• Cognitive behavioral evaluation, at her expense.
• Cooperation with vacating or clearing all the liens involved in this case, including (if I'm reading correctly) the ones made the subject of counts 6 and 9. That includes paying the victims their costs to clear the liens. Ms. Phillips is also prohibited from filing any "claims, liens, encumbrances, choses in action or lawsuits" without leave of the court during her supervised release.

The Government also had requested, and Judge Reagan granted, an order annulling all 12 liens directly, with instructions for the Government to record the same with the Cook County Recorder's office. The order lists all 12 liens by number, for anyone who's interested in looking them up with the County.

Among all of this, no explanation is made of document number 208, simply called, "COPIES OF COURT documents filed by Cherron Marie Phillips." This is a copy of a civil suit (or an attempt at one, anyway) against Judge Reagan, Judge Shadur, AUSA Nathan Stump, and several others, that was filed in the DC District in May. There's nothing really new in there:

Plaintiff CHERRON MARIE PHILIPS [sic] is an artificial entity an organization believed to be some sort of trust resulting from act of the United States and its related co-venture parties with a domicile in the District operating under identifier [redacted], a utility, which Authorized Agent Creditor and Beneficiary, this Applicant (under Habeas Corpus), River-Tali:Bey a flesh and blood natural woman and union state Citizen of Illinois, is wrongly being held as surety to and for a cesti que trust CHERRON MARIE PHILLIPS, resulting from certain acts and omissions.

Also, the FBI allegedly is operating in Illinois without an Illinois business license. Among other travesties.

(Note: I had put this online in order to share it. And then I noticed that Ms. Phillips evidently decided to put her Social Security number into this document as a means of identifying her strawman more certainly. While she may well be bringing the ensuing near-certain identity fraud upon herself, there's no reason that I should help her with that; so, sorry, but I won't post that right now.)

As you would expect, Ms. Phillips has also appealed the judgement (on time, this time): appeal number 14-3387 in the 7th Circuit. The notice of appeal is, as they are, curt; oddly, though, the certificate of service, signed by Lauren Solomon (defense counsel), says, "The undersigned hereby certifies that on , 2014 [sic], she served a copy of the attached MOTION TO WITHDRAW AS ATTORNEY OF RECORD" on AUSA Stump. Bit of a giveaway there, I guess. Oops.

[notorial dissent]

Sounds like Cherron is gonna be otherwise occipied for the foreseeable future. I would say she did her level best to shoot herself, repeatedly, in the foot and succeeded admirably at it, all the while not learning a thing.

While I agree(wholeheartedly I might add) with your ethics, I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would want to or be dumb enough to try and steal the identity of a would be conwoman, convicted felon, prison inmate, and all around crazy person, unless they had a real streak of masochism.

[morrand]

The notice of appeal is, as they are, curt; oddly, though, the certificate of service, signed by Lauren Solomon (defense counsel), says, "The undersigned hereby certifies that on , 2014 [sic], she served a copy of the attached MOTION TO WITHDRAW AS ATTORNEY OF RECORD" on AUSA Stump. Bit of a giveaway there, I guess. Oops.

And, indeed, on November 4, Ms. Solomon moved to withdraw. I wish there was some spectacular cause for withdrawal revealed in the filing, but no: she's just moved out of state, presumably for unrelated reasons.

What do you suppose are the odds that Ms. Phillips winds up with new counsel? What, for that matter, do you suppose are the odds that Ms. Phillips will actually work with new counsel to make the most of her appeal?

[notorial dissent]

Actually, moving out of state might be a small price to get away from Cherron.

Odds that she'll get a new counsel, pretty good, odds that she'll work with and cooperate, pretty poor in my book.

[Famspear]

Forty-four year old Cherron Marie Phillips is now inmate # 45209-424 at the Federal Correctional Institution at Waseca, Minnesota. Her projected release date is August 20, 2020.