Local man fined $125,770 for wanting a different judge
South Van Zandt rancher and
retired electrical engineer Udo Birnbaum says all he asked for was a hearing to get a
different judge.
"I'm not a lawyer, but
this whole thing sounds more like a criminal indictment, medical diagnosis, and
sentence -- all rolled into one", says Birnbaum. "If I had been guilty
of all this stuff, why didn't the judge have the bailiff arrest me right there
on the spot?" The Order judge Chapman just
signed this Oct. 24, 2006 states that the fine is "to serve as a deterrent to prevent Birnbaum from committing
further similar acts again in the future", and to "stop Birnbaum and others like him". "I always thought commit was criminal case language",
says Birnbaum, "and this was a civil case". "In a civil proceeding
a judge cannot unconditionally punish, only "coerce" to make one comply with an order, even lock
one up until one agrees to testify, for example. In civil punishment one always
has to have what they call the "keys to one's release", to avoid
punishment by complying with what the judge orders one to do". " Unconditional punishment requires full
criminal proceedings, including a finding of beyond a reasonable doubt -- by a
jury". "Even supreme court justices
Stephen Breyer and Sandra Day O'Connor know something
is amiss, else why would they go on PBS with Charlie Rose for a full hour,
pleading that America needs "fair and impartial judges", and that 40
percent of American believe that judges are nothing more than politicians in
black robes. "God help
America", states Birnbaum. "This not "I was quietly living
on my farm with my invalid 90 year old mother, and had only known the
courthouse from getting license plates". "And then I get sued because BEAVERS had built a dam on my farm".
"They can't sue me for what wild beavers may do! They should have called the game warden." "But what this is
really about is that I bucked the system by representing myself when I was sued
in that stupid case, instead of shelling out $10,000 or more to feed the
lawyers".
"Stop Courthouse Illiteracy"
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