There is no state of Georgia

It was Tuesday, so we had arraignments on the calendar. One defendant brought a friend with him from a "fringe" religious group. The friend was dressed in a small black turban, gold crown, black leather arm bracers (covering his forearms), a big dark green robe, and a thick black leather belt. I later overheard him say, "I dress as the apostles dressed." He looked like a cross between a zealous Dungeons & Dragons player/character and the paranoid schizophrenic guy that talks to everyone on the corner downtown.... maybe he was both?

So, he got a talking to several times in the courtroom when he tried to come up to the attorney desks. People from the Solicitor's office tried to tell him that only attorneys were allowed up there. His response was "I am an attorney." To which they asked, "are you licensed by the state of Georgia to practice law?" Of course not silly, he doesn't believe in the state of Georgia, nor its laws, nor its jurisdiction, there is only God's jurisdiction. He kept interrupting the Solicitors while they were trying to talk to the guy that brought him as his 'brother in Christ."

The guy who was actually charged in this court had a DUI and brought this character as a 'counselor' or advisor or something. The guy who actually had the case was not as hard-core as the apostle character. He did have a long black trench coat on, which was a little odd... but no crown. Other than that, he seemed rather ordinary looking. He was a young, 20 something African-American guy with short hair and a silver hoop earring. The 'counselor' and the DUI defendant tried pretty hard to tell the solicitor that there was no laws except God's law and that the state of Georgia has no jurisdiction over them. The apostle character was amazingly persistent, especially for someone that's not themselves charged in the case. There was mention of some time in 1983 when a messiah type person came and liberated everyone from this world or something, but I wasn't paying close enough attention to their conversation. I wish I had been listening up for that part.

When the defendant went in front of the judge there were all of a sudden a lot of large deputies in the courtroom. It was interesting to see them materialize out of nowhere. When the counselor/apostle dude came up to join his buddy at the podium the judge asked who he was and he provided the ID of "Brother in Christ" to the defendant. Well, OK, defendants can only come to the podium with their attorneys, are you licensed to practice law by the state of Georgia? "There is no state of Georgia or laws of Georgia, there is only God's law." OK, you can go ahead and stand with your buddy there. Now, defendant dude, you are charged with DUI, are you going to hire a lawyer? "Honestly judge, I am just feeling oblivion to these charges." Really? You don't look oblivion. "I mean oblivious, or whatever, I don't know what to make of this case." At this point the apostle/brother jumped back into the conversation, saying, "there is only God's jurisdiction, and there is no jurisdiction over us here." The judge corrected him saying, "you're in my jurisdiction now, and you can leave the courtroom." I was sad to see the apostle go. I just knew there was so much more crazy stuff he was going to say. I wanted him to have a chance to educate us on the rest of the issues that he had with the state of Georgia (or lack thereof).

I'm really looking forward to our next court date together. I want to see if they submit to Georgia's jurisdiction and hire a lawyer, or if they argue that the court does not have power over them. That raises a whole lot of questions for his defense. If Georgia has no jurisdiction, and there is only God's law, does God allow DUI? Maybe God's legislature hasn't passed any DUI laws? Maybe alcohol does not affect people who are not "in Georgia" although they appear to be "in Georgia" to the rest of us. Very interesting jurisdictional issues for the judge to figure out.