Shunning lawyers while facing felonies
August 31, 2011
By DANIEL BLACKBURN
A well-known county ad executive told CalCoastNews this week he remains uncertain if he will be represented by an attorney upon his Sept. 15 return to a Santa Barbara courthouse to face a variety of felony charges.
Jeff Lind, an Orcutt resident, has been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime; attempting to procure a false instrument for record; and attempted filing of a false document. Another man, Tom Murphy, also of Orcutt, has been charged with filing a false claim against a judge.
The men allege in a variety of documents filed with the court that they are “sovereign citizens” and not subject to the court’s authority, and have demanded that the Santa Barbara court prove its jurisdiction over them.
“I am still being cautious about an attorney for now,” wrote Lind in an email to CalCoastNews.
Lind’s problems with the law started in Dec. 2010, when he was attending a DUI trial for his adult son in the Santa Maria branch of the Santa Barbara County court. After he exchanged words with the arresting officer, Lind was himself arrested on a mixed bag of felony and misdemeanor charges, including intimidation. A videotape of the incident, posted on KCCN.tv, appeared to reinforce Lind’s version of events, and on August 11, the two remaining misdemeanor charges against him were dropped.
In the meantime, though, Lind and Murphy filed a wash list of complaints against Santa Barbara County prosecutors and police, and a $77 million claim against Judge Kay Kuns, using legal arguments prepared and filed by Murphy’s “National Standards Enforcement Agency.” Murphy writes on his website he wants “to enable us to take back control of our government.”
Some of the charges alleged by prosecutors are the result of filings by Lind and Murphy seeking to seize Kuns’ home after, according to the men, she “defaulted” on their claim by failing to respond to it.
Lind and Murphy contend that attorneys owe allegiance to the courts, and not to clients.
“The attorney, when they sign up and get a bar card, they’ve surrendered their American citizenship to Britain, to support and do what the Crown wants,” Murphy told New Times.
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