[dorkenbutt]

Here is the last of the success story.

He followed up with, "It says here you are a retired Lieutenant Colonel. You've been around for a while. Which branch?" I answered, "Yes, I've been around the block a few times. I was Army Infantry and Air Force." "How long were you in?", he then asked. I replied, "23 years, but I don't accept any retirement pension or benefits; and I have declined any Social Security benefits. I refuse to grant any jurisdiction by accepting a pension and becoming a 'US Person'." He said, "A lot of people come in this court who are not US citizens, and they enter a plea." (This is true. We have a huge number of illegal aliens in North Carolina.) I responded, "There is a lot of difference between a US 'Person' and a 'citizen'", but he apparently didn't know the difference.
I continued to "Stand Mute", telling him that my case was totally based upon the court's not having jurisdiction over me unless I volunteered it; and I had no intention of entering a plea voluntarily. He then surprised me by saying to the bailiff, "Take him to jail." The bailiff took my arm and began to guide me away. I paused to hand my file folder to my son who had come forward on previous instruction to take it. I turned and requested Judge Carroll to allow me one more question, which he did. I asked if I was being jailed because I was in contempt of court. He said I was in contempt and that was why I was going to jail. I asked, "If I enter a plea of 'Not Guilty' under threat of going to jail if I don't, will you accept that?". He said, "Yes. You would not go to jail." So, I entered a plea of "Not Guilty under threat of going to jail if I don't", and he was fine with that.
"Now we can have a trial", he said. I moved back to my seat in the gallery, thinking we had to wait for my notices and demands to be heard and for a jury to be set, when the judge motioned for me to come back up front to the defendant's table. I did so, and asked if we were going to have a trial then and there. When he told me that was correct, I reminded him I had filed a demand for dismissal and a notice of objection which had not been heard. He said he had read my briefs and was denying my demands. When it became clear to me that we were moving forward with a bench trial, I demanded to know where my jury was. I was told that one does not get a jury in a district court criminal trial, but only in a civil trial. He said I could appeal the ruling of the court to superior court after I was found guilty, and then I would get my trial by jury. While I didn't agree with that, we moved forward over my objections.
As the ADA was preparing to try me, the judge said, "My advice to you, not that you think you need my advice, is to bring a lawyer with you the next time you come to this court and read up on the statutes." I replied, "Your Honor, lawyers don't practice the same law as I do, and I have already read the statutes."
The ADA introduced the case, stating my charges, and called his first and only witness, the trooper who had given me the first set of tickets. Nothing was mentioned about the trooper who had issued the second set of citations, and I intended to hold that omission until later in the trial; nor was he in the courtroom. Trooper B.R. Phillips took the witness stand and testified in response to the ADA's questions concerning my stop and my behavior during the stop. He stated he had noted my license plate was "plastic" with green trees on it, but it was not a State-issued plate; so he pulled me over at around midnight on January 10th on what he termed a "State road", but which in reality was a federal highway. He testified that I had immediately begun to tell him that he had no jurisdiction to pull me over, and that his laws did not apply to me, only "the defendant's law applied to him", he said. The judge then asked him if he had asked me if I were from another planet. The trooper said, "No." "Well, did you ask him if he was from Pluto?", asked the judge. Trooper Phillips said, "No, Sir." "Did you ask him if he spoke English?" the judge inquired further. "No", said the trooper.
Changing directions, the judge then asked, "Did he have a weapon in the car?", to which the trooper replied, "Yes, but he didn't tell me right away. Only after a few minutes into our conversation did he tell me had a weapon, and he apologized for not having told me sooner, saying he had forgotten about it." "Was the gun registered?", asked the judge. "No, Your Honor. It did not turn up in the database." The ADA then sat down, and the trooper returned to his seat in the jury area. I asked whether or not I was going to be allowed to cross-examine the witness, and the judge told me, "Not in this court". I objected.
Without a doubt I was going to be found guilty and sent to jail for the maximum sentence. But, after a brief pause, and without allowing me to produce any evidence or witnesses or to argue my position at all, Judge Carroll then said, "Mr. Sullivan, you are 'Not Guilty'."
I said, "Did you say 'Not Guilty'?" "Yes, I have ruled you are not guilty. Have a good day, Mr. Sullivan." I was dumbfounded. My son rushed forward to gather me up, and we left the building. I said, "What just happened?" He said, "You won. You're not guilty." To which I responded, "Would the word 'enigmatic' be appropriate for what just happened?" He said that was a perfect word.
Putting our heads together, It may have been that Judge Carroll realized that nothing he did during that trial mattered a tinker's damn after I had been forced under threat and duress to involuntarily grant jurisdiction to the court. Further, in this state, the accused has a right to a trial de novo by appealing from District Court to Superior Court; and the result from the district court would have been overturned anyway. Regardless, for whatever reason, this acquittal was a major victory in my book, and, "ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN. ONE GIANT LEAP FOR LIBERTY."

I asked the bailiff as we were leaving the courtroom if an order would be issued for my trial. She told me that it would and that I could probably pick up a copy the next day. I did that very thing and put a copy in each one of my vehicles in case this traffic stop situation ever repeats itself. This win sets a huge precedent to me and vindicates all these months of my efforts to get arrested. My cars have had a Confederate flag license plate on the rear with "PRIVATE PROPERTY" tattooed over it with my personalized "No to Israel" plate on the front for most of the past year, and Ron Paul stickers on the bumpers. I also had magnetic signs on at times which said, "PRIVATE PROPERTY/NOT FOR HIRE" and "STOP/DELAY THIS VEHICLE AT YOUR OWN RISK" just to make sure I got their attention.

NOTE: My grounds for lack of jurisdiction were as follows:
1. The stops took place on federal highways, but the testifying officer was careful to state that the stops were on a State road which is congruent with the federal highway;
2. Lack of due process in the service of the "summons and complaint";
3. The State was a party to this action, so the original jurisdiction was with the SCOTUS;
4. No probable cause since the elements of the citations did not constitute a "threat to public safety" (State v. Ivey, NC Sup. Ct., 2006);
5. My vehicles do not have titles, so are non-jurisdictional, non-commercial "private property" protected by the state and federal constitutions and not subject to state jurisdiction unless a common law crime has been committed; and,
6. "The right of a citizen to travel upon the public highways is a common right, but he exercise of that right may be regulated or controlled in the interest of public safety." Honeycutt v. Scheidt, 254 NC 607 (As quoted in the "Uniform Driver's License Act" aka, NCGS 20-16, Annotated).