“Do you have anything to say before I pass sentence?”<\/p>\n
Today, I am charged with contempt of court.<\/p>\n
A year ago, I loved my country, and I respected its courts.<\/p>\n
A favorite slogan of mine was “One Nation Above God”, and I would flaunt this as evidence of my patriotism being stronger than that of any Christian or other believer in phantom deities, as I put my country above all else.<\/p>\n
At the end of February, the police came at midnight and took me for “evaluation”. \u00a0\u00a0I was taken, in the middle of the night, without being allowed to make any calls, to a snake pit of psychiatric “evaluation”, and after being stewed in that environment of insanity for six hours or more, I was judged suicidal and committed. \u00a0\u00a0I was held without any recourse to the law.<\/p>\n
Nearly a week later, after convincing my\u00a0jailer\/doctors that I was not a danger to myself or others, I was released.<\/p>\n
“They” came and took me away in the middle of the night. \u00a0I used to think only schizophrenics and the like alleged such things.<\/p>\n
The court did this.<\/p>\n
When I was released, I found that my wife had scribbled some absurd accusations on a petition, had it rubber-stamped by a judge, and I was now forbidden from contacting her or my daughters<\/em>\u00a0under penalty of imprisonment. \u00a0For three months, I was not given an audience to answer the charges in the petition, and had no idea what my daughters were being told concerning the sudden absence of their father. \u00a0For all I knew, they thought I was dead.<\/p>\n
The court did this.<\/p>\n
At one of the hearings, while I was still pro-se, I discovered that my wife’s counsel had asked a judge to subpoena my psychiatric records from the asylum (“ECMC”) to which I had been involuntarily committed. \u00a0 ECMC turned them over. \u00a0 The very foundation of psychotherapy — the trust between therapist and patient, the assurance that all communication is private and will not be used against oneself — had been shattered. \u00a0My trust in that system had been shattered. \u00a0My belief that the state held certain confidences inviolable was shattered.<\/p>\n
The court did this.<\/p>\n
I filed for divorce. \u00a0In June, I was allowed supervised visitation at the price of $50 for two hours per week. \u00a0I was able to see my girls again. \u00a0This was an agreement between parents. \u00a0The court had little to do with it. \u00a0 Soon thereafter, it was alleged that I sent a text message to my wife, and a few days later left flowers on her doorstep on the occasion of our twelfth anniversary. \u00a0One might consider this a gesture of reconciliation. \u00a0I can’t imagine either act being construed as dangerous, or frightening my wife, as the order of protection had all my weapons removed and she is a black belt in karate. \u00a0Furthermore, she states in the petition she has no belief that I intend to harm her or the children.<\/p>\n
The police came to my place of work and took me away in handcuffs. \u00a0The judge, without asking a question, without once looking at me, set my bail to $5,000 cash or $15,000 bond. \u00a0I was sent to the Erie County Holding Centre and spent almost three days in jail.<\/p>\n
The court did this.<\/p>\n
Today, I am charged with contempt of court.<\/p>\n
A year ago, I loved my country, and I respected its courts.<\/p>\n
Today? \u00a0The courts, \u00a0its officers, and the nation under whose vile and gangrenous rubric they operate–<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
I hold them all in the deepest contempt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0\u00a7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a7<\/p>\n
That didn’t happen.<\/p>\n
I arrived at 8:30 in Williamsville Village Court. \u00a0I waited. \u00a0My wife arrived. \u00a0The ADA called her twice before asking me in for conference. \u00a0He offered me the violation of “Harassment in the Second Degree”, and at the time it seemed good enough, and I accepted.<\/p>\n
My turn in front of the judge.<\/p>\n
Before a plea can be accepted, the defendant must answer a series of questions. \u00a0In my case, this involved asking if I waived my right to be assigned an attorney. \u00a0I debated the particulars of this matter, as I would have been happy to have been assigned one, but was denied by every agency to which I was referred. \u00a0 You’ve heard it: “You have the right to an attorney. \u00a0If you cannot or will not afford one, one will be appointed to you.” \u00a0This is not true. \u00a0Not in New York. \u00a0Maybe elsewhere. \u00a0In New York State, unless you are nigh indigent, you will not be appointed counsel. \u00a0Thus, I am pro-se in this case. \u00a0Eventually I simply stated that yes, I am proceeding pro-se\u00a0voluntarily.<\/p>\n
Did anyone coerce you to enter this plea? \u00a0Are you doing this of your own free will? \u00a0Do you give up all rights to an appeal? \u00a0Are you under the influence of any drugs or alcohol?<\/p>\n
I gritted my teeth and growled the appropriate answers to each to get me to the next.<\/p>\n
Finally, he describes the charge, and I notice that it hinges upon an “intent to harass, annoy, or harm” the “victim”. \u00a0I had no such intent, and said as much. \u00a0After much back-and-forth, he asked me to sit down and the bailiff handed me a copy of the relevant penal code entry and practice cases. \u00a0After reading this, and waiting, the judge called me back, and I told him that I would be perjuring myself by admitting to this charge, as I had no such malicious intentions.<\/p>\n
The judge stated that it seems as if we’d be going to trial, unless the ADA could offer some other plea, “perhaps something under\u00a0\u00a7240.20?”<\/p>\n