Victims of the Drug War Are Forced to Resort to Bizarre Legal Defenses受害者的禁毒戰爭被迫訴諸法律奇怪的防
By通過 Kevin Carey凱文凱里 | On November 16, 2005, Willie “Bo” Mitchell and three co-defendants — Shelton “Little Rock” Harris, Shelly “Wayne” Martin, and Shawn Earl Gardner — appeared for a hearing in the modern federal courthouse in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. | 11月16日， 2005年，威利“公報”米切爾和3名同案被告-謝爾頓“小石城”哈里斯，謝利“韋恩”馬丁，和肖恩厄爾加德納-出現了一個聽證會，在現代聯邦法院在市中心的馬里蘭州巴爾的摩市。 The four African American men were facing federal charges of racketeering, weapons possession, drug dealing, and five counts of first-degree murder.四是非洲裔美國男子所面臨的聯邦指控的敲詐勒索，持有武器，毒品交易，和五項第一一級謀殺罪。 For nearly two years the prosecutors had been methodically building their case, with the aim of putting the defendants to death.近兩年來，檢察機關已有條不紊地建設自己的情況，目的是把被告的死刑。 In Baltimore, which has a murder rate eight times higher than that of New York City, such cases are depressingly commonplace.在巴爾的摩，這是一宗謀殺案率的8倍，高於新的紐約市，這種情況是令人沮喪司空見慣。
A few minutes after 10 am, United States District Court Judge Andre M. Davis took his seat and began his introductory remarks.幾分鐘後，上午10時，美國地方法院法官安德烈米戴維斯了他的座位，並開始他的開場白。 Suddenly, the leader of the defendants, Willie Mitchell, a short, unremarkable looking twenty-eight-yearold with close-cropped hair, leapt from his chair, grabbed a microphone, and launched into a bizarre soliloquy.突然，領導人的被告，威利米切爾，在短期內，平凡展望28 - yearold與貼近出現了頭髮，躍居從他的椅子，抓住麥克風，並展開成為一個奇怪的獨白。
“I am not a defendant,” Mitchell declared. “我不是被告， ”米切爾宣布。 “I do not have attorneys.” The court “lacks territorial jurisdiction over me,” he argued, to the amazement of his lawyers. “我沒有律師。 ”法院“缺乏司法管轄權，我， ”他說，到驚奇，他的律師。 To support these contentions, he cited decades-old acts of Congress involving the abandonment of the gold standard and the creation of the Federal Reserve.為支持這些爭論，他列舉了數十年之久的行為，美國國會涉及放棄金本位和創造美國聯邦儲備委員會。 Judge Davis, a Baltimore-born African American in his late fifties, tried to interrupt.法官戴維斯，巴爾的摩出生的非洲裔美國人在他五十年代後期，試圖打斷。 “I object,” Mitchell repeated robotically. “我反對， ”米切爾一再robotically 。 Shelly Martin and Shelton Harris followed Mitchell to the microphone, giving the same speech verbatim.謝利馬丁和謝爾頓哈里斯其次是米切爾向麥克風，給予相同的講話，逐字記錄。 Their attorneys tried to intervene, but when Harris’s lawyer leaned over to speak to him, Harris shoved him away.他們的律師試圖干預，但是，當哈里斯的律師傾斜超過發言，他說，哈里斯被推他帶走。
Judge Davis ordered the three defendants to be removed from the court, and turned to Gardner, who had, until then, remained quiet.戴維斯法官下令三名被告被遣送離境法院，並轉過身去加德納，誰了，在那之前，仍然平靜。 But Gardner, too, intoned the same strange speech.但加德納，也intoned同時奇怪的講話。 “I am Shawn Earl Gardner, live man, flesh and blood,” he proclaimed. “我很肖恩厄爾加德納，生活的男子，有血有肉的， ”他宣布。 Every time the judge referred to him as “the defendant” or “Mr.每一次法官提到他為“被告”或“先生 Gardner,” Gardner automatically interrupted: “My name is Shawn Earl Gardner , sir.” Davis tried to explain to Gardner that his behavior was putting his chances of acquittal or leniency at risk.加德納， “加德納自動中斷： ”我的名字是肖恩厄爾加德納 ，主席先生“ 。戴維斯試圖解釋，以加德納認為他的行為是把他的機會被判無罪，或從寬處理處於危險之中。 “Don’t throw your life away,” Davis pleaded. “不要丟你的生活消失， ”戴維斯。 But Gardner wouldn’t stop.但加德納不會停止。 Judge Davis concluded the hearing, determined to find out what was going on.法官戴維斯結束了聽證會，決心找出發生什麼事情。
As it turned out, he wasn’t alone.作為原來，他並不孤單。 In the previous year, nearly twenty defendants in other Baltimore cases had begun adopting what lawyers in the federal courthouse came to call “the flesh-and-blood defense.” The defense, such as it is, boils down to this: As officers of the court, all defense lawyers are really on the government’s side, having sworn an oath to uphold a vast, century-old conspiracy to conceal the fact that most aspects of the federal government are illegitimate, including the courts, which have no constitutional authority to bring people to trial.在過去的一年，有近20名被告在其他巴爾的摩案件已開始採取什麼律師，在聯邦法院來電話“的血肉聯繫，防禦”的國防，例如因為它是，歸結為一點：作為人員法院，所有辯護律師真的是對政府的方面，有宣誓就職宣誓，堅持幅員廣闊，百年歷史的陰謀，隱瞞事實，即大多數方面，聯邦政府是非法的，包括法院，沒有憲法權威，使人民的審判。 The defendants also believed that a legal distinction could be drawn between their name as written on their indictment and their true identity as a “flesh and blood man.”被告還認為，一個法律的區別，可以加以區分他們的名字，作為寫上他們的起訴書和他們的真實身份，作為一個“有血有肉的人” 。
Judge Davis and his law clerk pored over the case files, which led them to a series of strange Web sites.法官戴維斯和他的法律秘書仔細查看案卷，而導致了一系列的奇怪的網站。 The fleshand- blood defense, they discovered, came from a place far from Baltimore, from people as different from Willie Mitchell as people could possibly be.該fleshand血，防禦，他們發現，來自一個地方遠離巴爾的摩，從人民群眾不同的Willie米切爾隨著人們可能。 Its antecedents stretched back decades, involving religious zealots, gun nuts, tax protestors, and violent separatists driven by theories that had fueled delusions of Aryan supremacy and race war in gun-loaded compounds in the wilds of Montana and Idaho.其前因拉回到幾十年來，所涉及的宗教狂熱者，槍堅果，稅示威和暴力分離主義理論的推動下已燃的幻想雅利安人至上和種族戰爭中槍加載化合物在荒野的蒙大拿州和愛達荷州。 Although Mitchell and his peers didn’t know it, they were inheriting the intellectual legacy of white supremacists who believe that America was irrevocably broken when the 14th Amendment provided equal rights to former slaves.雖然米切爾和他的同行不知道，他們在繼承的智慧遺產，白人至上主義誰相信美國是不可改變的破碎時，第十四修正案規定的平等權利，以前的奴隸。 It was the ideology that inspired the Oklahoma City bombing, the biggest act of domestic terrorism in the nation’s history, and now, a decade later, it had somehow sprouted in the crime-ridden ghettos of Baltimore.這是思想，振奮了俄克拉何馬城爆炸案，最大的行為，國內的恐怖主義，民族的歷史和現在，十年後，它已在某種程度上發芽，在犯罪四起貧民區的巴爾的摩。
The series of events that led to the prosecution of Willie Mitchell et al are as convoluted, tragic and intermittently absurd as an episode of HBO’s acclaimed Baltimore crime drama, The Wire .一系列事件導致起訴的Willie米切爾等人是錯綜複雜，悲慘和荒謬的間歇性作為一個插曲高壓氧的讚譽巴爾的摩犯罪的戲劇， 鐵絲網 。 Mitchell and company came of age on the streets of West Baltimore, a few miles and a world away from the rejuvenated inner harbor and the tourist attractions near the federal courthouse.米切爾和公司前來年齡對街道西巴爾的摩，幾英里和世界脫離振興內港和旅遊景點附近的聯邦法院。 According to prosecutors, the group began selling drugs together as teenagers in the mid-1990s, driving up I-95 to New York City, buying half kilos of cocaine in upper Manhattan and cooking it into crack to sell back home.據檢察官，該集團開始銷售毒品，共同為青少年在20世紀90年代中期，拉動上I - 95到紐約市，購買半公斤可卡因在上曼哈頓和烹飪它變成打擊出售回家鄉。 They added heroin to their repertoire a few years later, as well as robbing and killing other drug dealers.他們還說，將毒品海洛因運至他們的曲目，幾年後，以及搶劫和殺害其他毒販。 By 2002, they were firmly established in what passes as normal enterprise in a hollowed-out economy like Baltimore, where the drug trade often provides more opportunity than legitimate work and the bedrock institutions of family and school have crumbled. 2002年，他們牢固確立了在什麼通行證，作為正常的企業在一個被掏空出經濟一樣，巴爾的摩，那裡的毒品貿易，往往提供了更多的機會，比合法的工作和基岩機構家庭和學校已經崩潰。 They had children out of wedlock with multiple women.他們子女的非婚生子女，與多個婦女。 They were occasionally arrested, although they never served much time.他們偶爾會被捕，雖然他們從未太多時間。 It was an insular culture where a ruthless prohibition against “snitching” to the police was often more powerful than any law.這是一種狹隘的文化一場殘酷的禁止“ snitching ”向警方往往更強大，比任何法律。 Even as cities like New York saw the murder rate decline dramatically, drug killings in Baltimore continued at a steady clip.甚至作為城市如紐約，看到的謀殺率大幅下降，藥物的殺戮在巴爾的摩，繼續在穩定的剪輯。
According to the indictment, the end began on February 18, 2002, in a downtown Baltimore nightclub called Hammerjacks, where Mitchell got into a dispute and stabbed a fellow drug dealer in the back, seriously wounding him.根據起訴書，年底開始對2002年2月18日，在一個位於市中心的巴爾的摩夜總會所謂hammerjacks ，米切爾進入爭端，並刺傷了一名研究員毒品交易商在背部，重傷他。 If Mitchell had hoped to get away with this attempted murder, he was swiftly and brutally set straight by the drug dealer’s associates.如果米切爾曾希望擺脫與此謀殺未遂，他迅速和殘酷的一套直由毒品交易的同夥。 When police on patrol found Mitchell later that evening, he was on a sidewalk with several men jumping on his head.當警方在巡邏時發現了米切爾後，晚上，他是在人行道上與數名男子跳躍，要他的人頭。 Mitchell survived the assault, but he remained in serious trouble.米切爾倖存下來的毆打，但他仍然在嚴重的麻煩。 The police had issued a warrant for his arrest; more ominously, his enemies had placed a $10,000 contract on his head.警方已簽發了逮捕令逮捕他，更不祥的是，他的敵人放置了一個一點○○○萬美元合同要他的人頭。
Mitchell probably didn’t know exactly what his enemies had in mind, but he was seasoned enough to realize that they wanted him killed.米切爾可能不知道究竟他的敵人已在介意，但他是久經考驗的不夠明白，他們要他死亡。 Ten days after the club incident, prosecutors allege, he made a phone call to an associate of the men who had beaten him up.十天後，俱樂部的事件，檢察官指稱，他打電話給一名協理的男性誰曾毆打他。 The associate was a drug dealer named Oliver “Woody” McCaffity.協理是一個毒品交易商名為奧利弗“木本” mccaffity 。 Mitchell proposed that the two men meet that evening for a drug deal.米切爾建議，該兩名男子見面，當晚為一個毒品交易。
Neither man came to the meeting alone.既不男子來到了會議。 Mitchell brought a friend, Shelton Harris.米切爾所帶來的一位朋友，謝爾頓哈里斯。 McCaffity brought his sometime girlfriend, Lisa Brown. mccaffity帶來了他一段時間的女朋友，麗莎布朗。 Brown was a pastor’s daughter, a computer systems analyst and mother of three.布朗是一名牧師的女兒，電腦系統分析師和三個孩子的母親。 Her parents told reporters that she had broken up with McCaffity after learning of his involvement with drugs.她的父母告訴記者，她打破了與mccaffity後，學習他的參與與毒品。 But when he called and invited her to the movies, she decided to go along.但是，當他呼籲，並邀請她到電影，她決定去。
The two parties drove to the Park Heights section of Northwest Baltimore.兩黨驅車前往公園嶺段西北的巴爾的摩。 It was a quick meeting.這是一個快速的會議。 Mitchell and Harris climbed into the backseat of McCaffity’s Infiniti Q-45.米切爾和哈里斯攀升到次要的mccaffity的英菲尼迪的Q - 45 。 Then they shot McCaffity through the head and fired through Brown’s raised right hand into her left temple, where police later found a .357 caliber bullet.然後他們開槍mccaffity通過頭部和發射通過布朗的提出，右手到她的左廟，警方稍後發現了0.357口徑的子彈。 The bodies of McCaffity and Brown were left in the car, which rolled downhill and rammed into a nearby tree at the dead-end of the street.該機構的mccaffity和布朗留在車內，其中推出的下坡撞上附近的樹在死端的街。 Police found it two hours later.警方調查發現，這兩個小時後。 A palm print on the car window was later matched to Harris, and McCaffity’s cell phone records revealed calls that night to Mitchell’s phone.手掌印上車窗口，後來相匹配的哈里斯，並mccaffity的手機通話記錄顯示，當晚米切爾的電話。 Mitchell, suspecting that McCaffity’s associates were going to try to kill him, had apparently decided to kill first.米切爾，懷疑mccaffity的同夥去嘗試殺死他，顯然決定殺死第一。 The murder would probably not have attracted much attention, except for the fact that McCaffity’s Infiniti was owned by Hasim Rahman, the recently dethroned heavyweight boxing champion of the world.謀殺案可能不會有備受關注，除了事實，即mccaffity的英菲尼迪所擁有hasim拉赫曼，最近dethroned重量級拳擊冠軍的世界。 McCaffity was a friend and business associate of Rahman, causing the ex-champ to quickly call a press conference denying any involvement in the crimes. mccaffity是一個朋友和生意夥伴的拉赫曼，造成前冠軍迅速呼叫的記者招待會上否認參與了任何刑事罪行。 (Police have never alleged otherwise.) （警方從來沒有被指控，否則） 。
If the killing of McCaffity and Brown had been a successful preemptive strike, Mitchell was also prepared to kill for more mundane reasons.如果殺害mccaffity和布朗已成功先發製人，米切爾也準備殺死更多的世俗的原因。 On March 24, a few weeks after the Mc- Caffity murder, Mitchell allegedly called a former high school classmate named Darryl Wyche and offered to buy some heroin and cocaine from him. 3月24日，數星期後的MC - caffity謀殺，米切爾據稱，所謂的前高中同學，命名為歐陽若曦wyche ，並表示願意購買一些海洛因和可卡因從他。 Darryl, excited by the prospect of a big sale, agreed.歐陽若曦，興奮的前景的一大銷售，表示同意。 The two made plans to meet in a nearby industrial park around midnight.這兩個計劃，以應付在附近的一個工業園區周圍的午夜十二時。
Again, neither party came alone.再次，任何一方都沒有來。 Wyche brought his younger brother Tony, who had reluctantly agreed to drive. wyche帶來了他的弟弟托尼，誰已勉強同意，以推動。 Mitchell brought Harris again, as well as two more friends: Shelly Martin and Shawn Gardner.米切爾所帶來的哈里斯再次，以及兩名有更多的朋友：謝利馬丁和肖恩加德納。
The Wyche brothers opened the back door of their Honda to let Mitchell and his men into the back seat.該wyche兄弟開後門，他們本田，讓米切爾和他的男子進入後座。 Then each received a bullet in the side of the head.然後每個收到的子彈在一側的頭部。 The next morning the police found the bodies, seat belts still on.第二天早上，警方發現的屍體，安全帶仍然在。 (Mitchell appears to have seen Wyche as an easy source of drugs and cash.) （米切爾似乎已看到wyche作為一件容易的來源，毒品和現金） 。
But Mitchell’s luck was about to end.但米切爾的運氣是即將結束。 When Baltimore homicide detectives found the bodies of the Wyche brothers, they assumed they had come across another hard-to-solve drug killing.當巴爾的摩兇殺案的偵探發現屍體的wyche兄弟，他們假設，他們曾遇到的另一個努力，到解決毒品殺害。 Then they received an unexpected phone call.然後他們收到了意想不到的電話。 It was from Darryl Wyche’s mother-in-law, who reported finding a strange message on her phone.這是由馮永wyche的母親-在法律，誰報導，發現一個奇怪的訊息，她的電話。 Recorded at 12:43 am, the message was four and a half minutes of a group of men with names like “Wayne” and “Shorty” saying things like “Bup-bup-bup-bup-bup, yo, they both fucked.” The call had come from the cellphone of Darryl Wyche.記錄在上午12時43分，該郵件是4和1分半鐘的一組男子的名字一樣， “韋恩”和“ shorty ”的話，像“ bup - bup - bup - bup - bup ，協青社，他們都fucked 。 “的呼籲，來自手機的歐陽若曦wyche 。
Wyche’s family and the police soon figured out what had happened: One of the murderers had stolen Darryl Wyche’s phone and forgotten to turn it off. wyche的家人和警方很快計算出了什麼事：一個殺人犯曾被盜馮永wyche的電話，並忘記關閉它。 While the killers were driving away, one of them had accidentally pressed the phone’s speed dial button, calling Darryl’s mother-in-law and producing a most unusual piece of evidence: a voicemail confession.而兇手被趕走，其中一人不小心按下手機的快速撥號按鈕，要求歐陽若曦的母親-在法律和製作一個最不尋常的證據：一個語音信箱招供。 With considerable understatement, a lieutenant in the city homicide unit reflected on his good fortune to the Baltimore Sun .具有相當輕描淡寫，一名中尉在該城市的兇殺案，案單位反映他的好運到巴爾的摩太陽報 。 “We got lucky,” he said. “我們運氣好， ”他說。 Willie Mitchell and Shelly Martin were soon rounded up and put in jail.威利米切爾和謝利李柱銘很快圍捕，並在監獄裡。
What would become the fifth and final murder charge in the case of Willie Mitchell and his cohorts took place two months later.什麼將成為第五和最後的謀殺指控在該案件的Willie米切爾和他的人群發生兩個月後。 This time, only Mitchell’s friend Shawn Gardner was directly involved.這個時候，只有米切爾的朋友肖恩加德納直接參與。 It began with a man named Darius Spence, who had found out that his wife, Tanya, was cheating on him with a local drug dealer everyone called “Momma.”它開始與一名男子名為大流士的Spence ，誰發現了出來，他的妻子，坦尼婭，是作弊行為，他與當地的毒品交易商，大家所謂的“ momma ” 。
Spence decided to have Momma beaten up severely.斯彭斯決定有momma毆打嚴重。 To accomplish this, he negotiated with another drug dealer named Willie Montgomery.要做到這一點，他通過談判與另一毒販名為威利蒙哥馬利。 Would Montgomery be willing to beat up Momma in exchange for money?將蒙哥馬利願意毆打momma以換取金錢呢？ But Montgomery had another proposition altogether.但蒙哥馬利的另一命題完全。 Beating Momma up didn’t make sense, Montgomery argued, because then Momma would undoubtedly try to kill Montgomery.毆打momma起來沒有意義上講，蒙哥馬利辯稱，因為當時的momma無疑會嘗試殺死蒙哥馬利。 It was better just to kill Momma outright, and for five thousand dollars, Montgomery would be glad to do the job.這是更好地只是為了殺死momma買斷，並為5000美元，蒙哥馬利將很樂意做的工作。 Spence said he’d think it over.斯彭斯說，他認為這要超過。
Unfortunately for Darius Spence, Montgomery wasn’t interested in waiting around for an answer.可惜大流士的Spence ，蒙哥馬利是不感興趣，在等待大約一個答案。 Instead, sensing opportunity, Montgomery decided to tell Momma about the hit.相反地，傳感的機會，蒙哥馬利決定告訴momma有關擊中。 If I turn down the deal, Montgomery explained, then Spence will probably just hire someone else to kill you.如果我拒絕了這筆交易，蒙哥馬利解釋，然後彭斯可能會只是租用別人要殺了你。 Therefore, Montgomery reasoned, you should hire me to kill Spence first.因此，蒙哥馬利理性的，你應該聘請我殺的Spence第一。 Momma was persuaded. momma被說服。 (As Montgomery later explained to the prosecutors, “I guess he like that idea better than Darius Spence’s idea.”) （蒙哥馬利後來解釋，檢察官， “我猜他這樣的想法總比大流士彭斯的想法” ） 。
To execute the hit on Spence, Montgomery recruited two associates, one of whom was Shawn Gardner.執行創下的彭斯，蒙哥馬利招聘2同夥，其中一人是肖恩加德納。 For the next two months, the three men staked out Spence’s apartment.為在未來兩個月內，該三名男子孤注一擲出彭斯的公寓。 The plan was for Shawn Gardner and his associate to invade from the basement and carry out the killing, and then run to a nearby getaway car, which was to be driven by Montgomery.該計劃是為肖恩加德納和他的副入侵從地下室進行殺害，然後運行到附近的汽車逃走，這是驅使蒙哥馬利。 Special care was to be taken not to harm Tanya, and they would cover her eyes with duct tape to prevent her from identifying them.特別照顧的是將要採取的不傷害坦尼婭，他們將涵蓋她的眼睛膠帶，以防止她從確定他們。 Still, Montgomery warned Momma that he couldn’t guarantee Tanya’s safety.不過，蒙哥馬利警告momma認為，他不能保證坦尼婭的安全。 “If it’s up to me, she won’t be hurt,” Montgomery told Momma, “but some things could go wrong.” Momma’s reply was to the point: “Do what you do.” “如果它的成立對我來說，她將不會受到傷害， ”蒙哥馬利說， momma ， “但有些事情可能出亂子” 。 momma的答复是這一點： “做你做的” 。
On June 7, 2002, the three men drove to the Spence apartment, a worn red brick building at the end of a cul-de-sac a few miles from Baltimore city. 6月7日， 2002年，該三名男子，驅車前往斯彭斯的公寓，一個破舊的紅磚建築在去年底一小路幾英里，從巴爾的摩市。 But the hit didn’t go as planned.但打擊並沒有按計劃進行下去。 Darius Spence wasn’t in the apartment, and they didn’t manage to blindfold Tanya.大流士彭斯沒有在公寓，他們沒有管理，以眼罩坦尼婭。 As children played outside the Spence apartment, Tanya burst through the kitchen door on the third floor, screaming, “No!作為兒童的發揮以外的Spence公寓，坦尼婭水管爆裂，透過廚房門，三樓，尖叫， “不！ No!” Lifting one leg over the balcony, she tried to climb down to the floor below but lost her grip and fell fifteen feet to the ground, landing a few feet from the children.不！ “解除一條腿超過陽台上，她試圖攀登到地板下面，但失去了她的抓地力下降一十五英尺到地面，降落幾英尺，從兒童。 Gasping for breath, she motioned for them to run away before crawling under the first floor balcony.吸一口氣，她動議為他們逃跑前，檢索下，第一樓陽台。 Moments later, the two killers emerged from the Spence apartment, ran down the steps and stopped a few feet from Tanya, now lying in the fetal position in the dirt and begging for her life.片刻之後，兩個殺手湧現出的Spence公寓，然下跌的步驟和停止幾英尺，從坦尼婭，現在擺在胎兒的立場，在污垢和乞求她的生命。 One pulled out a large caliber revolver and fired two shots into Tanya’s chest as the children watched.一退出一大口徑左輪手槍，並開了兩槍，到坦尼婭的胸部作為兒童觀看。 Then both men ran away.然後兩人逃跑。
Unfortunately for the killers, Montgomery wasn’t where they thought he’d be.不幸的兇手，蒙哥馬利是不是他們以為他要。 Somehow the meeting place had gotten confused, and the getaway failed.在某種程度上會議地點已得到了混亂，逃走失敗。 Police quickly apprehended Shawn Gardner and his associate.警方迅速逮捕肖恩加德納和他聯繫。 Eventually, the law caught up to Montgomery, too.最終，法律趕上來蒙哥馬利，太。
Gardner was tried, convicted, and sentenced in state court to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Tanya Spence.加德納被審判，定罪，並判處在國家法院終身監禁，沒有假釋的可能性，為被謀殺的案件坦尼婭的Spence 。 Meanwhile, Willie Mitchell and Shelly Martin were charged by the state with the Wyche brothers’ killings and sat in prison for the next year and a half as police and prosecutors assembled their case.同時，威利米切爾和謝利李柱銘被落案起訴，由國家與wyche兄弟的殺戮和星期六在監獄中為未來一年半時間，作為警察和檢察官組裝他們的案件。
Then, on January 22, 2004 — nearly two years after the first four murders — the word came down from the office of US Attorney Thomas DiBiagio: the Willie Mitchell case was going federal, and the government was seeking the death penalty.然後，在2004年1月22日-將近兩年後，首四個月的謀殺案-這個詞來從辦公室的美國司法部長托馬斯迪比阿究：威利米切爾案件前往聯邦，而政府正在尋求死刑。 The Justice Department, DiBiagio explained, was going after “individuals responsible for making life hell in Baltimore.”司法部，迪比阿究解釋說，去後， “個人負責，使生活在地獄巴爾的摩” 。
For Mitchell and company, this was bad news.為米切爾和公司，這是壞消息。 Instead of jurors selected from the city pool, Mitchell would likely be judged by an all-white panel of citizens from places like Maryland’s westernmost rural counties or the far reaches of the Eastern Shore.而不是選定的陪審員從市游泳池，米切爾很可能會作出判斷，一個全是白人公民小組，由地方，如馬里蘭大學的最西邊的農村縣或遠到達東海岸。 He would face better-funded prosecutors, and was far more likely to get the death penalty.他將面臨更好地資助檢察官，和遠越有可能得到被判處死刑。 Maryland has only executed five people in the last thirty years, but in 2005, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was aggressively seeking death sentences.馬里蘭州的只有5人被處決，在過去三十年，但在2005年，當時的司法部長阿什克羅夫特是積極尋求判處死刑。 In fact, the Justice Department was even retrying cases in order to win death penalties for crimes like the Spence murder, for which Shawn Gardner was already serving life without parole.事實上，在美國司法部，甚至試案件，以爭取死刑的罪行一樣，斯彭斯謀殺，而肖恩加德納已經服終身不得假釋。
DiBiagio’s office also added a raft of conspiracy charges to the indictment, filed under the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.迪比阿究的辦公室還增添了一系列的陰謀收費的起訴書，提交根據聯邦敲詐勒索的影響和腐敗組織（波多黎各）法。 By alleging that the defendants were part of an organized conspiracy — the so-called “Willie Mitchell organization” — prosecutors could hold all four defendants responsible for any of the crimes the others had committed.由指被告的一部分，一個有組織的陰謀-即所謂的“威利米切爾組織” -檢察官可以容納所有四名被告負責的任何犯罪，其他已承諾。 That’s why Shelton Harris, who wasn’t originally arrested for the Wyche or the McCaffity and Brown murders, was pulled off the street and charged with the full slate of crimes.這就是為什麼謝爾頓哈里斯，誰是原先沒有被捕，為wyche ，或mccaffity和布朗的謀殺案，拉過街，並被控以充分板岩的罪行。 It’s also why Mitchell and Harris were charged with the Spence murder, although they were already in jail when Shawn Gardner committed it.這也是為什麼米切爾和哈里斯被落案控以有關的Spence謀殺，雖然他們已經在監獄時，肖恩加德納承諾。 RICO is normally applied to members of the mafia and organized crime, and its use sent a clear message: the government was coming at Mitchell and company with everything it had.波多黎各是通常適用於成員的黑手黨和有組織的犯罪，及其使用發出了一個明確的訊息：政府未來在米切爾和公司與它的一切。
The prosecutors bolstered the conspiracy argument by noting that, unlike most Baltimore drug dealers, Mitchell and company had incorporated a legal entity for which they all worked and allegedly funneled proceeds of their drug business into: “Shake Down Entertainment, Ltd.” The group promoted rap CDs and concerts through the company, which even had its own record label, “Shystyville.” Soon, Shystyville CDs with titles like “Pure Shit” became evidence of not just the conspiracy but the crimes themselves, with prosecutors entering into the record lyrics like these:檢察機關增強了陰謀的論據，由注意到，這有別於絕大部分的巴爾的摩毒品販子，米切爾和公司已註冊成立一個法律實體，而他們的所有工作和據稱funneled的收益，他們的毒品生意為： “握手言和下跌娛樂有限公司” ，該集團晉升說唱的CD和演唱會，透過該公司，其中甚至有其自身的唱片公司， “ shystyville ”盡快， shystyville光碟與書籍一樣， “純shit外圍” ，成為證據，不只是陰謀，但自己的罪行，檢察官進入紀錄的歌詞像這些：
I watch ya brains fly all over on the bitch next to you 我看亞動腦筋，蒼蠅都對蕩婦你旁邊
Homeboy it’s up to you I could put this pup to you homeboy它的成立給你我可以把這個給你的PUP
Then to pumpin’ you up like a innertube 然後pumpin '你像innertube
Send shots that’ll pump up the end of you 發送鏡頭將泵了年底你
Leave you all fat and bloated you know I keep 離開你所有的脂肪和臃腫，你知道，我保持
the Mac loaded then I like ta clack rollin’ 陸委會裝貨的話，我想，電訊局長瓣羅林'
That’s why Bo and Weez on lock now and every day on lock down 這就是為什麼公報和weez對鎖，現在每一天就鎖定
Niggas getting shot down for runnin’ they mouth clown niggas越來越擊落為runnin ' ，他們口小丑
Tell me how it feels with a gun in ya mouth now 告訴我如何感覺與槍在雅口，現在
Prosecutors alleged that the “bitch next to you” was Lisa Brown, who was sitting beside Oliver McCaffity when he was shot through the head, that a “pup” is slang for the largecaliber revolver used in the killing, that the “Bo” on “lock now” was the imprisoned Willie “Bo” Mitchell, and that the reference to “Niggas getting shot for runnin’ they mouth” amounted to witness intimidation.檢察官指稱， “蕩婦你旁邊”麗莎布朗，誰坐在旁邊的奧利弗mccaffity他在被擊斃時，通過頭部， “黃石”是俚語為largecaliber左輪手槍，用於在被殺害， “公報”關於“現在鎖”是被囚禁的Willie “公報”米切爾，並提到“ niggas獲得球runnin ' ，他們口”為證人恐嚇。 Faced with the prospect of an all-white jury hearing this music in the courtroom, the defense lawyers objected on the grounds that lots of songs have lyrics that “proudly refer to violent retaliation,” offering by way of example country star Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).”面對前景，一個全白人組成的陪審團聽到這個音樂在法庭上，辯護律師提出反對意見，理由是，很多歌曲的歌詞， “自豪地指的暴力報復， ”要約的方式，例如國家的明星托比凱斯的“禮貌性的紅色，白色和藍色（憤怒的美國） ” 。
Nearly two years passed.近兩年來通過。 The wheels of justice were turning, slowly but surely.車輪司法轉折，慢慢但肯定。 Then came the memorable hearing in which the defendants debuted the flesh-and-blood defense.後來難忘的聽證會中，被告推出了血肉聯繫，防禦。 After that, everything changed.之後，一切都改變了。
A month after the hearing, Judge Davis took the unusual step of issuing a written opinion denying all of the defendant’s “unusual — if not bizarre” arguments.一個月後，聽證會上，法官戴維斯採取了不尋常的步驟，發表了一份書面意見，無可否認，所有的被告的“不尋常的-如果不是離奇”的論點。 “Perhaps they would even be humorous,” Davis wrote, “were the stakes not so high It is truly ironic that four African- American defendants here apparently rely on an ideology derived from a famously discredited notion: the illegitimacy of the Fourteenth Amendment.” One can understand his incredulity that four Baltimore drug dealers might invoke a racist argument that dates back to the nineteenth century. “或許他們會更幽默， ”戴維斯寫道， “人的利害關係不那麼高，這是真正諷刺的是， 4非洲裔美國人被告在這裡顯然是依賴於一種意識形態來自著名的抹黑的概念：非婚生的第十四修正案” 。一是可以理解的，他incredulity四個巴爾的摩毒品販子可引用一個種族主義的說法可以追溯到十九世紀。 But as it turns out, that’s when the seeds of the flesh-and-blood defense were sown.但由於原來，這就是當種子的血肉聯繫，國防播種。
In 1878, southern Democrats pushed legislation through Congress limiting the ability of the federal government to marshal troops on US soil.在1878年，南部同盟推動國會通過立法限制的能力，聯邦政府元帥的部隊在美國本土。 Known as Posse Comitatus, (Latin for “power of the county”) the law’s authors hoped to constrain the government’s ability to protect black southerners from violence and discrimination.被稱為波塞comitatus ， （拉丁語系“的權力，縣” ） ，該法的作者希望來約束政府的執政能力，以保護黑南方人從暴力和歧視。 The act symbolically marked the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of Jim Crow.該法象徵，標誌著年底的重建和開始吉姆克勞。
For the next eight decades, black Americans lived under the yoke of institutional racism.為未來80年來，美國黑人生活的枷鎖下的體制種族主義。 But by the late 1950s, the civil rights movement was growing in strength.但50年代後期起，民權運動被越來越多的實力。 In 1957, President Eisenhower sent 1,200 troops from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, so that nine black students could safely enter a previously all-white high school.在1957年，艾森豪威爾總統發出1200年從部隊第101空降師向阿肯色州小石城，使九黑人學生可以安全地進入一個以前全是白人高中。 The landmark Civil Rights Act followed in 1964.具有里程碑意義的民權法案其次是在1964年。
These developments horrified one William Gale, a World War II veteran, insurance salesman, self-styled minister of racist Christian Identity theology, and raving anti-Semite.這些事態發展感到震驚一威廉烈風，第二次世界大戰的退伍軍人，保險推銷員，自封為部長的種族主義基督教神學的身份，和raving反semite 。 In 1971, he launched a movement whose impact would reverberate through the radical fringes of American society for decades to come.在1971年，他發起一個運動，其影響將迴盪，通過激進的邊緣，美國社會幾十年來形成。 He called it Posse Comitatus, named for the 1878 law he believed Eisenhower had violated by sending the troops to Little Rock.他呼籲它波塞comitatus ，命名為1878年的法律，他相信艾森豪威爾違反了派遣部隊到小石城。 In a series of tapes and self-published pamphlets, Gale explained that county sheriffs were the supreme legal law enforcement officers in the land, and that county residents had the right to form a posse to enforce the Constitution — however they, as “sovereign citizens,” chose to interpret it.在一系列的錄音帶和自我出版的小冊子，烈風解釋說，縣縣有最高的法律，執法人員在土地，以及縣居民的權利，形成一個波塞，以執行憲法-但他們作為“主權公民“選擇來解釋它。 Public officials who interfered, instructed Gale, should be “hung by the neck” at high noon.公職人員誰干預，指示，烈風，應該是“由紅脖子”在高中午十二時。
Gale’s racist beliefs were hardly unique.烈風的種族主義的信念幾乎獨一無二的。 His singular innovation was to devise a “legal” philosophy that was enormously appealing to disaffected, alienated citizens.他的奇異的創新是要制訂一個“合法”的哲學，這是有很大的吸引力心懷不滿的，疏離的公民。 It was a promise of power, a means of asserting that they were the true inheritors of the founding fathers’ ideal, a dream they believed had been corrupted by a vast conspiracy that only they could see.這是一個承諾的權力，一種手段，聲稱他們是真正的繼承者的創始者'的理想，一個夢想，他們相信已損壞的由一個龐大的陰謀，只有他們可以看到。 Gale’s ideas gave people on the paranoid edge of society a collective identity.烈風的想法了人民對偏執的邊緣社會集體的身份。 It told them what they desperately wanted to hear: that the federal government was illegitimate, and that the legal weapons the state used to oppress them could be turned against the state.它告訴他們什麼，他們迫切希望聽到：聯邦政府是非法的，以及法律武器國家用來壓迫他們可以把危害國家。
Soon, Posses were sprouting across the country, attracting veterans of the 1960s-era tax protest movement, Second Amendment absolutists, Christian Identity adherents, and ardent anti-communists who had abandoned the John Birch Society because they felt the organization wasn’t extreme enough.很快，擁有被發芽該國各地，吸引退伍軍人， 20世紀60年代時代的稅務抗議運動，第二項修正案absolutists ，基督教信徒的身份，和殷切的反共產黨人誰放棄了約翰樺木社會因為他們認為該組織沒有足夠的極端。 Local groups would meet to share literature, listen to tapes of Gale’s sermons, and discuss preparations for the approaching End Times.當地團體將舉行會議，分享文學，聽錄音帶，烈風的說教，並討論了籌備工作接近結束時間。 This extremist stew produced exotic amalgamations of paranoia, such as when Posse members would explain the need for local militias to stockpile weapons in order to defend white Christians from blacks in the coming race war sparked by the inevitable economic collapse caused by the income tax and a cabal of international Jewish bankers bent on global dominance through one world government, for Satan.這個極端的大雜燴製作融合異國情調的妄想，例如當波塞成員將解釋需要當地民兵儲存武器，以捍衛白人基督徒從黑人在未來的種族戰爭所引發的不可避免的經濟崩潰所帶來的收入稅和陰謀集團的國際猶太銀行家執意要在全球的統治地位，通過同一個世界政府，為撒旦。
While local Posses would periodically confront law enforcement officials in the 1970s, (usually in property disputes), they were often incompetent, and few people were hurt.而當地擁有將定期對抗執法官員在七十年代， （通常是在財產糾紛） ，他們往往不稱職的，少數人受傷。 But things took a serious turn in 1978, when thousands of farmers rallied in Washington DC seeking relief from low commodity prices, high interest rates, and farm debt.但事情發生了嚴重的轉折， 1978年，當數以千計的農民凝聚在華盛頓特區尋求救濟，從商品價格低，利息高企，和農場的債務。 When Congressional relief attempts failed, some farmers became susceptible to peddlers of the Posse ideology, which preached that the farm crisis had been brought on by the international Jewish banking conspiracy, abandonment of the gold standard and a malevolent Federal Reserve.當國會救濟企圖失敗了，一些農民成為易受販賣的波塞思想，鼓吹該農場的危機，已提請就受到了國際銀行業的猶太陰謀，放棄金本位和惡意美國聯邦儲備。
By 1982, Bill Gale had flown to Kansas to conduct paramilitary training and indoctrination for splinter groups of disaffected farmers. 1982年，條例草案烈風已飛到堪薩斯州進行準軍事訓練和灌輸為分裂集團心懷不滿的農民。 At night, a country music station in Dodge City broadcast tapes of Gale’s sermons.在夜間，一個國家的流行音樂電台在道奇城市播出的錄音帶烈風的說教。 “You’re either going to get back to the Constitution of the United States in your government,” he intoned, “or officials are gonna hang by the neck until they’re dead Arise and fight! “您不是要回到憲法，美國在貴國政府， ”他intoned ， “或官員是在哪裡坑由頸部，直到他們死亡的出現和撲滅！ If a Jew comes near you, run a sword through him.” As Posse ideology rippled across the distressed farm belt, violence followed.如果一個猶太人來你附近，運行劍通過他“波塞思想波及全國痛心，農場帶，其次是暴力。 Several deadly confrontations between Posse adherents and law enforcement made national headlines; Geraldo Rivera descended on Nebraska to document the “Seeds of Hate” in America’s heartland.幾個致命之間的對抗，波塞信徒和執法取得了國家的頭條新聞;熱拉爾多裡韋拉的後裔就內布拉斯加州的文件“的種子，恨”在美國的心臟地帶。 By 1987, Gale’s rhetoric had escalated further.到1987年，烈風的修辭已進一步升級。 He told his followers that “You’ve got an enemy government running around its source and its location is Washington, DC, and the federal buildings they’ve built with your tax money all over the cities in this land.”他說，他的追隨者說， “你已經得到一個敵人，政府四處其來源和它的位置是哥倫比亞特區華盛頓，和聯邦大廈，他們已經建立了與您的納稅錢，所有的城市在這片土地” 。
Hucksters and charlatans prowled the Midwest as the farm crisis deepened, selling desperate farmers expensive seminars and prepackaged legal defenses “guaranteed” to cancel debts and forestall foreclosure. hucksters和charlatans prowled中西部地區作為農場危機深化，絕望的農民出售昂貴的研討會和法律預先防“保證”取消債務和預先贖。 Since the gold standard had been abandoned in 1933, they argued, money had no inherent value, and so neither did their debts.由於黃金標準已放棄在1933年，他們認為，金錢並沒有內在價值，所以也沒有他們的債務。 All they had to do, farmers were told, was opt out of the system by sending a letter to the appropriate authorities renouncing their driver’s license, birth certificate, and social security number.所有他們不得不這樣做，農民被告知，是選擇退出該系統通過發送了一封信給適當當局放棄他們的駕駛執照，出生證明，及社會安全號碼。 That number was allegedly tied to a secret government account held in a secure subterranean facility in lower Manhattan, where citizens are used as collateral against international debts issued by the Fed and everyone’s name is on a master list, spelled in capital letters — the very same capital letters used in the official court documents detailing foreclosure and other actions against them.這個數字據稱綁一個秘密帳戶，政府舉行在一個安全的地下設施，在曼哈頓下城，那裡的公民是用來作為抵押品對國際債務所發出的美聯儲和每個人的名字是在一個總表，說明在英文大寫字母-很相同的英文大寫字母用在正式的法庭文件，詳列贖和其他行動對付他們。 The capital letter name was nothing but an artificial construct, they were told, a legal “straw man.” It wasn’t them — natural, live, flesh and blood men.大寫字母的名稱只不過是一個人工建造，他們被告知，法律上的“稻草的人。 ”這不是他們-自然，生活，有血有肉的男子。
Bill Gale died on April 28, 1988, three months after being sentenced in federal court for conspiracy, tax crimes, and mailing death threats to the Internal Revenue Service.條例草案烈風死亡， 1988年4月28日， 3個月後，被判處在聯邦法院串謀，稅務犯罪，和郵寄的死亡威脅到內部收入服務。 By that time, the farm crisis had begun to recede.到那個時候，農場的危機已開始消退。 Posse ideology simmered for the next few years, morphing into the “Christian Patriot” movement, which sanded down some of the roughest racist and anti-Semitic edges while retaining the core beliefs of Constitutional fundamentalism.波塞思想哥倫布到底埋葬在哪裡未來幾年，變形成為“基督教愛國者”運動，用砂紙一些粗糙的種族主義和反猶太主義的優勢，同時保留核心的信仰憲法的原教旨主義。 The patriots saw themselves as “sovereign citizens,” unlike the “federal citizens” who had been created by the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.愛國者看到自己是“公民主權” ，不像“聯邦公民的”誰已經建立了由第14修正案的保證平等的法律保護。
The deadly confrontations between federal agents and extremists at Ruby Ridge in 1992 and Waco, Texas in 1993 brought latent anger with the federal government back to a boil.致命之間的對抗，聯邦特工和極端分子在紅寶石嶺在1992年和韋科，得克薩斯州在1993年所帶來的潛在的憤怒與聯邦政府回到煮沸。 The militia movement of the 1990s built on Posse tenets of county- based, self-organized paramilitary groups led by citizens expressing their basic Constitutional rights.民兵運動20世紀90年代興建的波塞原理，縣為基礎，自組織的準軍事集團為首的公民表達他們的基本憲法權利。 Most groups stuck with conducting survivalist training camps and filing bogus liens against houses owned by local judges.最團體堅持進行生存訓練營地，並提交虛假留置權對房屋所擁有的本地法官。 But a few did much more.但有幾個沒有更多的工作。
In 1993, a Michigan farmer and survivalist named James Nichols was pulled over for speeding.在1993年，美國密歇根州的農民和生存命名為詹姆斯尼科爾斯拖出以上為超速駕駛的行為。 Instead of simply paying the fine, he argued in court that his “sovereign citizen” status made him immune to prosecution.而不是簡單繳交罰款，他在法庭上辯稱，他的“主權公民”的地位使他免受起訴。 That same year, James’ brother Terry tried to pay off a $17,000 debt with a fake check issued by a radical “family farm preservation” group run by Posse adherents.同年，詹姆斯的兄弟特里試圖還清一一點七萬美元債務與假檢查所發出的一激進的“家庭農場保存”組辦的波塞信徒。 Two years later, Terry Nichols helped to bring the Posse’s anti-government hatred to its ultimate fruition.兩年後，特里尼科爾斯幫助，使波塞的反政府的仇恨，以它的最終成果。 On April 18, 1995, he and a friend named Timothy McVeigh loaded 108 fifty-pound bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer into a Ryder truck. 4月18日， 1995年，他和一個朋友名為蒂莫西麥克維加載108 50 -磅袋硝酸銨肥料成為萊德卡車。 The next day, McVeigh bombed the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people on the second anniversary of Waco.第二天，麥克維炸毀murrah聯邦大樓在俄克拉何馬城，炸死168人關於第二個週年韋科。
After the attack, the Feds began cracking down on white supremacist groups, including one called the “Montana Freemen,” who were, in the words of hate-group expert Daniel Levitas, “the direct ideological descendants of the Posse Comitatus.” (Levitas’ book, The Terrorist Next Door, contains the definitive account of Bill Gale and the Posse.) The Freemen were arrested in their isolated compound after a threemonth standoff with the FBI.襲擊事件後，聯邦調查局開始嚴厲打擊白人優越團體，其中包括所謂的“蒙大拿自由人， ”誰獲得，在的話，憎恨組專家丹尼爾萊韋塔斯“ ，直接的思想子孫的波塞comitatus 。 ” （萊韋塔斯'書，恐怖隔壁，包含明確的交代條例草案烈風和波塞） ，自由人被拘捕，在他們的孤立複合後三個月的僵局，與美國聯邦調查局。 At trial, they filed an array of bizarre documents citing the Fed, the gold standard, the 14th Amendment, and the Uniform Commercial Code, but to no avail.在審訊中，他們提交了一系列奇怪的文件為由，美聯儲的黃金標準，第十四修正案，以及對統一商業代碼，但不得要領。 They were sent to the maximum security “Supermax” federal prison in Florence, Colorado, where they remain today.他們被送往最高安全“ supermax ”聯邦監獄在佛羅倫斯，科羅拉多州，在那裡他們仍然是今天。
But the appeal of their anti-government dogma didn’t disappear.但呼籲其反政府的教條並沒有消失。 The Freemen continued to attract sympathizers outside Supermax walls.該自由人繼續吸引同情者外supermax牆壁。 Some collected the documents the Freemen filed during their trial and began offering them for sale via adver tisements in “America’s Bulletin,” a newsletter espousing Posse- style anti-government theories that is widely distributed throughout the prison system by white supremacists.一些收集的文件自由人提起期間，對他們的審判，並開始為他們提供出售的經adver tisements在“美國的公告， ”時事通訊信奉波塞式反政府的理論，這是廣泛分佈在整個監獄系統由白人至上主義。
In October 2004, a prisoner named Michael Burpee arrived at the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center in downtown Baltimore. 2004年10月，一名囚犯任命Michael burpee抵達位於馬里蘭州的懲教中心的調整，在市中心的巴爾的摩。 Burpee had recently been convicted in Florida of trafficking PCP to Maryland. burpee最近已被定罪，在佛羅里達州的五氯酚販運到馬里蘭州。 Hoping for leniency, he pled guilty, only to receive a twenty seven-year prison sentence dictated by harsh federal sentencing guidelines.希望從寬處理，他pled有罪，只收到27可判處一年有期徒刑取決於苛刻聯邦的判刑指引。 Desperate for a way out, he began listening to someone — presumably a fellow prisoner — who explained how the charges were all part of a secret government conspiracy against him.絕望的一條出路，他開始聽有人-假定研究員囚犯-誰解釋，如何收費，都是一個組成部分，政府的秘密陰謀反對他。 Then Burpee was brought up on new federal drug charges in Maryland, and shipped north.然後burpee是帶來了新的聯邦藥品收費在馬里蘭州，北和發運。 He carried with him a pile of documents that were remarkably similar to those that had been filed by the Montana Freemen.他與他進行了一堆文件，有顯著相似，那些已提交由蒙大拿自由人。
In Baltimore, Burpee found a group of inmates at the margins of society, people like Willie Mitchell and company who were staring at the full force of the federal government.在巴爾的摩， burpee發現了一批犯人在社會的邊緣，人們想的Willie米切爾和公司誰被凝望的全部力量聯邦政府。 As one defense attorney representing a flesh-and-blood defendant put it, they “saw a freight train coming and felt three feet tall.” Soon the unorthodox legal filings and courtroom outbursts began to multiply.作為一個辯護律師代表的血肉聯繫，被告提出，他們“看到一列貨運列車，並認為未來3呎高的” 。很快，非正統的法律訴狀和審判爆發開始繁殖。 It was, one public defender later explained, “like an infection that was invading our client population of pre-trial detainees.” Burpee appears to have been patient zero in the epidemic.這是一公設辯護人稍後解釋說， “像一感染，這是侵略我們的客戶人口的審前被拘留者” 。 burpee似乎已在病人的零疫情。 For over a year, he harangued his lawyers and judge about the conspiracy and spread the word in the Baltimore lockup.超過一年，他harangued他的律師和法官關於陰謀和蔓延一詞在巴爾的摩鎖死。 Then, in a stroke of bad luck for the public defender’s office, the US Attorney’s office decided to drop the charges against Burpee — perhaps reasoning that he wasn’t worth the hassle considering that he had already been sentenced to twenty-seven years.然後，在中風的壞運氣為公設辯護人辦公室，美國聯邦檢察官辦公室決定放棄指控burpee -也許推理，他是不值得的麻煩考慮，他已被判處2 0-七年。 For Burpee’s peers, the decision imbued the flesh-and-blood defense with legitimacy and the hope of freedom.為burpee的同儕，決定充滿了血肉聯繫，防禦與合法性，並希望自由。
Before long, the relatives of the defendants were scanning Web sites like www.redemptionservice.com, which offers maps showing how Satanic runes were secretly incorporated into the street plan of Washington, DC, and a deluxe package of instructions for renouncing one’s social security number for only $3,900, payable by check or money order.不久之前，親屬與訟人分別為掃描的網站一樣， www.redemptionservice.com ，它提供的地圖，顯示如何撒旦魯內斯被秘密納入街計劃，哥倫比亞特區華盛頓，和一家豪華包裝的指示，放棄一個人的社會安全號碼僅$ 3900 ，所繳交的支票或匯票。
Like the Midwestern farmers before them, the Baltimore inmates were susceptible to the notion that the federal government was engaged in a massive, historic plot to deprive them of life, liberty, and property.像中西部農民面前，巴爾的摩囚犯容易概念，即聯邦政府進行了大規模，歷史性的陰謀剝奪了他們的生命，自由和財產。 Such suspicions are prevalent in certain pockets of the black community — that year, a study from the Rand Corporation found that over 25 percent of African Americans surveyed believed the AIDS virus was developed by the government, and 12 percent thought it was released into the population by the CIA.這種懷疑是流行在某些口袋黑人社區-這一年，一項研究，從蘭德公司發現，超過2 5％的非裔美國人的被訪者認為艾滋病病毒是由政府，和1 2％ ，認為這是釋放到人口由中央情報局。 And black separatist groups like the Nation of Islam — also fond of conspiracy theories — have long cultivated members through the prison system; some of these groups have explicitly adopted the language of constitutional fundamentalists. Given these developments, Levitas told me, “I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner.”
This, then, was how Willie Mitchell came to draw on the accumulated layers of three decades of right-wing paranoia and demand that his case be dismissed “in accord with House Joint Resolution 192, and Public Law 73-10″ — laws that involved the abandonment of the gold standard and the Federal Reserve. And it explained why Shawn Gardner kept insisting that he be addressed as “Shawn-Earl: Gardner,” rather than the capital-letter SHAWN GARDNER printed on the indictment: he thought that if he could convince the court to call him by his “natural” name, it would be tantamount to admitting that the charges had been filed against someone else.
On the morning of January 10, 2006, two months after the first flesh-and-blood hearing, Gardner returned to Judge Davis’s courtroom. Moments after Davis arrived, Gardner stood up. “I object,” he said, over and over, until Judge Davis had finally had enough. “Do you know what you’re doing?” he asked Gardner. “You are committing suicide in broad daylight. There are public suicides in this country far too often. People jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge. People walk into their workplaces with a gun and put the gun up to their head and pull the trigger. People slash their wrists. I don’t want you to join that community, but that’s what you’re doing, sir.”
Gardner tried to argue that the court had no power over him under “common law.” “At common law,” Judge Davis replied, “you were property. You were bought and sold just like those Timberlands on your feet today can be bought and sold. That’s what your ancestors were, some of them, and that is what my ancestors were, some of them.”
“You have invoked ideas formulated and advanced by people who think less of you than they think of dirt,” Davis continued. “The extremists who have concocted these ideas that you are now advancing in this courtroom are laughing their heads off. You are giving them everything they ever wished for. They should be paying you to do what you are doing. They are going to make you the poster child for their movement. When you complete this suicide, they will honor you because you are doing their work, better and more effectively than any of them ever dreamed they could do. Some of them — ” “I object,” said Gardner, interrupting. “The government wants to do the same thing anyway. So what’s the difference?”
Gardner, unrepentant, was escorted from the courtroom. And so the tenets of Posse Comitatus continued their long, strange journey, from the racist, hate-filled mind of William Gale to four black defendants on trial for their life in Baltimore federal court.
A little more than a year after the November 2005 hearing, the flesh-and-blood phenomenon took another twist. A key part of the conspiracy indictment against Mitchell et al was the allegation that the defendants acted together in pursuit of criminal goals. The seemingly choreographed speeches and the identical filings, all submitted on the same day and mailed by the same person, suggested that the four defendants were going to great lengths to coordinate their actions, despite being housed in separate prison facilities and having no obvious means of communication. Ergo, evidence that the conspiracy was continuing in jail. The US Attorney’s office also added new charges of felony obstruction of justice, citing the disruptive nature of the fleshand- blood defense. The prosecutors weren’t just rejecting the defense as an argument for innocence. They were saying that it was, itself, a crime.
Undaunted, Mitchell and company continued making courtroom speeches and filing more nonsensical motions. One, for instance, claimed that Judge Davis’ court only had jurisdiction over crimes committed in federally owned “forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and enclaves.”
None of these arguments had a prayer of overturning the charges. But they had an impact nonetheless. They made a long, complex trial longer and more complex still. Seeking the death penalty is rightfully arduous — it requires legal justifications for the penalty itself, enhanced scrutiny over jury selection, an additional penalty phase after a conviction, and so on. Conspiracy charges create further legal burdens. And the way Mitchell et al chose to deal with their attorneys — not dismissing them outright, but asking them to sign a peculiar “contract” that would essentially prohibit them from mounting a defense — created more problems. If the defendants weren’t dealt with carefully, they might be able to appeal by claiming that they had been inadequately represented. The last thing Judge Davis wanted was for an appellate court to throw out a verdict and send the case back to Baltimore to start all over again. According to a source close to the court, dealing with the flesh and blood defense has been “one of the greatest challenges Davis has faced in twenty years as a judge, by far.”
By mid-2007, the federal prosecutors were starting to run low on a vital resource: time. As years go by, memories fade, police officers retire or transfer, informants change their mind, and juries wonder, why, if the case is so straightforward, it took so long to make. On September 6, 2007, prosecutors withdrew the death penalty for all four defendants.
Nobody in the Baltimore federal courthouse is willing to state, or even speculate on the record, that Mitchell and his cohorts may have averted death with the flesh-and-blood defense. There are other possibilities involving evidence, witnesses, and Justice Department policy. But the elaborate processes of federal capital cases weren’t built to accommodate farcical pro se filings and challenges. Traffic offenses, tax cases — even farm foreclosures — are one thing. When the end goal is execution, even the most ludicrous defenses are taken seriously.
On January 8, 2008, the case of United States of America v. Willie Mitchell et al convened once again in the main courtroom of the federal courthouse. The lawyers arrived first, chatting in the manner of people who had spent nearly four years and counting on the odyssey of this case. The defendants came next. While Shawn Gardner wore the blue work shirt of a lifer in state prison, Willie Mitchell sported comfortable baggy jeans and a stylish black shirt. Mitchell sauntered to his table, and spied the lone spectator in the courtroom’s auditorium-style gallery of one hundred- plus seats, a slender black woman who looked to be in her late twenties. His eyes lit up as he smiled and mouthed “How are you?” “I’m good, I’m good” she murmured. “Your new lawyer — get his card!”
Judge Davis arrived last, emerging from a wooden door behind the bench, beneath oil portraits of judges from days gone by. The hearing will be short, he said; the purpose is to establish a schedule for future motions, and ultimately the trial. Davis and the lawyers spent the next twenty minutes trying find eight weeks of available courtroom time for ten busy lawyers plus the judge. Then, apropos of nothing, Shelton Harris stood up. “Good morning your honor,” he began. Davis saw where this was going and cut him off. “I haven’t recognized you yet, Mr. Harris. You’ll have time to talk later,” he said. “I accept your offer,” Harris replied softly, and sat down.
The scheduling discussion continued; Mitchell rested his head in his arms as though bored. Finally, Judge Davis allowed Harris to speak. Harris launched into the now familiar oration — “I request you, the judge, close the accounts” He spoke rapidly in a low, gravelly voice, as if he’d worked hard to memorize the speech and didn’t want to leave anything out.
Harris finished, sat, and Judge Davis turned to the defendants. The speech you just gave has no legal meaning whatsoever, he said sternly. They were words in the English language, but they have no meaning as a matter of law. If, in future proceedings, you persist — even politely — in making these speeches, you face a severe risk of being expelled from the courtroom. The court also may conclude that you are waiving your right to appointed counsel, in which case you would have to represent yourself. That would be a sad day. “We are in recess,” Davis said. He turned back toward the door to leave.
Then several things happened at once. Shawn Gardner, handcuffed, slumped in the arms of the federal marshals, who seized him beneath his armpits and dragged him across the courtroom toward the door. Willie Mitchell raised his right hand to speak, intent on giving his version of Harris’ speech, but the marshals grabbed his arm and forced it down behind his back toward his left wrist, which was already cuffed. Mitchell struggled and yelled at his lawyer, “They got my arm in a chicken wing!” The marshals forcibly moved Martin and Harris toward the door. Judge Davis watched with consternation as they were dragged from his court.
Willie Mitchell and company won’t go on trial until September, if then, and they won’t face the death penalty, even though they probably deserve it if anyone does. But they will probably be convicted and spend the rest of their lives in federal prison, never to be heard from again, because in the end, the flesh-and-blood defense is no defense at all. The 14th Amendment didn’t revoke Shawn Gardner’s natural citizenship — it gave him protection under the law, and paved the way for another black man to judge his case. There’s no international cabal of Jewish bankers conspiring against him — one of his lawyers, a professor at Howard University Law School, is Jewish. The secret histories and grand conspiracies that have fueled decades of right-wing paranoia, morphing to accommodate one doomed cause after another until finding an unlikely temporary home in a Baltimore lockup, are lies and nothing more.
As the marshals shoved the four men toward the courtroom door, back to the prison they’ll never leave, they shook their heads and looked at each other smiling, as if to say right, right, isn’t it always just like this? One of them let out a chuckle that rose above the din. Judge Davis turned to the court reporter. “Let the record show,” he said, “that Mr. Harris is laughing.”
Have Your Say: Victims of the Drug War Are Forced to Resort to Bizarre Legal Defenses
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