INMATE LABELED “SOVEREIGN CITIZEN” BY THOSE ON THE OUTSIDE…AND INSIDE
by Sharon Rondeau
(Mar. 12, 2014) — On January 30, 2014, a hearing was held at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, OH on behalf of appellant Darren Wesley Huff, who was sentenced to four years in federal prison plus two years of probation for allegedly attempting to “take over the courthouse” in Monroe County, TN.
Huff has spent approximately two and one-half years in prison for an alleged crime which was never committed.
On April 20, 2010, he traveled from his home in Georgia to attend an assignment hearing for CDR Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III (Ret.), who had attempted to arrest the Monroe County grand jury foreman on April 1 for over-serving his term in accordance with state law. Instead, Fitzpatrick himself was arrested, jailed, released five days later, and indicted on several crimes which involved “intimidating a juror.”
In November of last year, the state of Tennessee submitted a brief to a Knoxville appellate court clarifying that grand jury foremen in the Volunteer State are not jurors and are chosen by a method other than “random, automated means” as mandated by state law. Therefore, the charge of “intimidating a juror” is invalid.
Huff, who had been present during the citizen’s arrest on April 1, was also charged by the Monroe County grand jury with “intimidating a juror” and pleaded “no contest” on December 1, 2010. Fitzpatrick chose to go to trial and was convicted on two misdemeanors and served a jail sentence in what he described as a medieval dungeon.
Huff was charged federally for two alleged crimes and acquitted on one. On the other, a “hung” jury resulted, at which point Judge Thomas Varlan instructed the jury to “go back and try again.” A guilty verdict was produced, and Huff was jailed, then sentenced in May 2012, despite exculpatory evidence presented to Varlan prior to the hearing.
However, on the charge for which Huff was convicted, Fitzpatrick and others have proved that Huff was not in the location which an FBI agent identified in his affidavit, which served as the basis for probable cause. Also contradicting the agent’s statements, Huff was not armed when he parked his truck in Madisonville on April 20, 2010 and patronized a local restaurant where members of local law enforcement were simultaneous customers.
Despite the massive turnout of law enforcers at the local, county, state and federal levels, the U.S. Department of Justice first insisted that it possessed no documentation on the event, then, upon appeal, changed its story to state that it could not release the documentation it has.
Eastern Tennessee has a decades-long history of corruption including bribery, forgery, law enforcement shakedowns of innocent motorists for unjustified traffic tickets, election fraud, methamphetamine production and sale, judicial corruption, prosecutorial misconduct and murder-for-hire. Grand juries, which constitutionally were intended to act as a buffer between government and the citizens, are completely controlled by the judiciary, including how they are populated, in violation of state code which mandates random selection and a 24-month time period between terms of service for any juror. Trial juries have also been rigged by the judges, one of whom is running for re-election this November.
While state law also declares that a grand jury consists of 13 people randomly chosen, the “13th juror” is nearly always the foreman, who is chosen by the criminal court judge by an unknown vetting method. Because judges are allowed to hire the foreman without performing a formal screening, at least one such foreman has been found to have been a convicted felon, another violation of state code.
Both Huff and Fitzpatrick have been depicted as “Sovereign Citizens” by a law enforcement training program produced by the Tennessee Fusion Center under the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security. Fitzpatrick has filed a complaint with McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy‘s office objecting to the pejorative characterization but received no meaningful response. The training program materials were in use prior to Huff’s federal trial in October 2011, and several law enforcers from Monroe County perjured themselves while providing testimony for the prosecution.
Although “Sovereign Citizens” are considered potentially dangerous, Huff has been in a minimum-security prison for the length of his incarceration. He learned early on, however, that the label had followed him to Texarkana and resides in his files. Two months ago, Huff told The Post & Email that items in his file had inexplicably disappeared.
No eyewitnesses who were with Huff that day were subpoenaed to testify for the defense.
Members of The Fogbow, who may be under criminal investigation themselves currently, have admitted in their forum to contacting Monroe County officials to warn of the “courthouse takeover” which had alleged been planned. However, there was no plan, coordinated effort, or gathering of “eight or nine militia groups” as stated in the FBI affidavit, not was anyone arrested as a result of carrying a firearm unlawfully.
While the mainstream press reported the allegations of law enforcement as a potential confrontation and “the tensest day we ever had,” it produced no photos or footage of anyone breaking the law on April 20, 2010 in Madisonville, where the Monroe County courthouse is located. There were no arrests until Huff was stopped ten days later driving through Knoxville on an errand.
During the appeals hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke McLaurin perjured himself by stating that Huff and Fitzpatrick had exchanged text messages on April 20, 2010, as Fitzpatrick has never used text messaging with anyone.
On January 1 of this year, Huff finished composing a “Statement of Facts” reporting on his perception of the treatment he has received since his location to FCI Texarkana in Texas. The Post & Email previously reported on portions of the Statement of Facts, but herein presents the entire document as Huff awaits a decision from the appellate panel.
