Exposing the police state one roadblock at a time
After more than eight long years, hundreds of legal documents later and several court challenges (including a reversal by the 9th circuit court of appeals), Checkpoint USA’s lawsuit is finally being scheduled for trial after being launched in December 2003 against an illegal checkpoint operation conducted in December of 2002.
It’s been a busy year for me, both personally & professionally, which is why you haven’t seen much activity on these pages lately. Fortunately the dust is beginning to settle allowing me some much needed time to get caught up on various projects. One of the first things I intend on getting caught up on is the status of my ongoing civil rights lawsuit which has seen a fair amount of activity this year.
The lawsuit stemmed from a checkpoint incident I was involved in way back in December of 2002. My last formal update on this lawsuit took place in August 2009, shortly after winning a significant victory in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that re-instated the lawsuit after being dismissed by Tucson District Court Chief Judge John Roll. The 9th Circuit also imposed significant limitations on tribal traffic enforcement operations along state right-of-ways running through tribal land that hadn’t been in place prior to their ruling & made it clear a tribe’s normal power of exclusion for non-tribal members doesn’t apply in these areas either.
14 Sep 2010 UPDATE: Here's an email update I recently received from Mr. Williams regarding his case:
In court yesterday the city of Atlanta dropped the disorderly conduct charge and bound the driving without a license charge over to state court. I will now be able to present my case before a jury. Time to work on the jury nullification thing
A few days ago, I received the email appearing below from Joe Williams in Atlanta, Georgia. Joe will be defending himself in court against malicious charges stemming from the exercise of his rights while being stopped, detained and questioned at a suspicionless sobriety checkpoint in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this year.
Continue reading “Atlanta Sobriety Checkpoint Claims Another Victim of Police Authoritarianism”
As reported on this blog several months ago, all charges against Steven Anderson were initially dismissed with prejudice in Ajo Justice court in December 2009. The story however did not end there.
During court proceedings in 2009, it became obvious a Border Patrol agent lied to Anderson’s attorney(s) regarding the existence of checkpoint guidelines:
Continue reading “A Deja Vu Moment. Anderson Found Not Guilty – Again”
While the above video has been floating around the internet for several years now, I thought it was worth posting here given the nature of this website and the questions/comments I receive on my roadblock videos on a regular basis.
The video highlights a presentation given by Regent University Law Professor James Duane regarding exercising one’s right to remain silent when confronted by government agents conducting investigatory interviews/interrogations. Professor Duane speaks for about 28 minutes before turning the remainder of his time over to Virginia Beach Police Dept. Detective George Bruch.
[Yuma County Assistant Prosecutor William Katz during Steven Anderson's December 16, 2009 Pre-trial hearing]The full video from Steven Anderson’s pre-trial hearing on December 16, 2009 has been released and appears below. For those who haven’t been following this case, Steven Anderson is the individual tazered and beaten by Arizona DPS Officers and U.S. Border Patrol agents at an internal suspicionless checkpoint East of Yuma in April of last year.
Continue reading “Full Video of Anderson’s Checkpoint Hearing Released”
Angry Border Patrol agents riot in the streets after charges against Anderson were dismissed with prejudice ;)]
Steven Anderson was beaten and tazered by U.S. Border Patrol agents and Arizona DPS officers at a suspicionless Homeland Security checkpoint East of Yuma in April of 2009. The reason for the beat down was because Mr. Anderson chose to peacefully exercise his right not to be searched absent probable cause and a warrant signed by a federal judge.
To add insult to injury, after beating Mr. Anderson, he was also charged by Arizona DPS officers with several violations of state law even though he had been seized at a federal checkpoint by federal agents allegedly enforcing federal law.
Continue reading “Video from Steven Anderson’s court hearing now available”
[At the request of USBP Agent Roman (right), TOPD officer R. Carrasco cites Checkpoint USA for impeding traffic at a Homeland Security checkpoint. The charge was dismissed in court several months later]
In an article titled, DHS accomplices face legal liability, Checkpoint USA’s seven year lawsuit against several tribal police officers was recently mentioned on the Identity Project’s website. The article also references several other pending cases involving local police acting on behalf of Department of Homeland Security agencies such as the TSA.
I first wrote about the driver appearing in the video above in August of last year. See:
More Arizona Cops Harassing Travelers At Border Patrol Checkpoints
At that time, the driver was being routinely harassed by Border Patrol agents at a suspicionless Homeland Security checkpoint along I-19 in Southern Arizona. On at least one occasion, Arizona DPS officer M. Anguiano assisted with the harassment by knowingly issuing a false citation to the driver for not wearing a seatbelt while he was being seized by federal agents in the secondary inspection area (see article referenced above for more details).
Growing weary of the ongoing harassment, the driver began exercising his right to keep and bear cameras several months ago (something I strongly recommend for all travelers, regardless of your chosen mode of travel).
The results of a recorded encounter in December can be seen in the video above and a transcript of the incident follows:
Continue reading “Just answer the question & you’ll be on your way…”
[Photo: Anderson's blood-stained car after being beaten & tasered by BP Agents and AZ DPS Officers]Very good news from Freedom’s Phoenix today regarding the charges against Steven Anderson.
Mr Anderson is the pastor who was beaten and tasered by Border Patrol agents and Arizona DPS officers at an internal suspicionless Border Patrol checkpoint East of Yuma, Arizona earlier this year:
Continue reading “Charges Dismissed With Prejudice Against Steven Anderson”