Time: Tue Nov 12 18:22:34 1996
To: libertylaw@www.ultimate.org
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: Is this the get-out-of-jail-free card?
Cc: 
Bcc: 

At 12:58 PM 11/12/96 -0800, you wrote:
>=======================================================================
>LIBERTY LAW - CROSS THE BAR & MAKE YOUR PLEA - FIRST VIRTUAL COURT, USA
>Presiding JOP: Tom Clark, Constable: Robert Happy, Clerk: Kerry Rushing
>=======================================================================
>Paul,
>
>You wrote:
>
>>I appreciate your "real" experience, Tom.
>>I would only add that U.S. v. Griffith
>>made it very clear that a Plea in Abatement
>>is the correct procedural move to challenge
>>the authority of a grand jury to issue
>>indictments in the first instance.
>>
>>So, NOTICE OF PLEA AND PLEA IN ABATEMENT
>>is actually an adequate substitute for
>>a formal plea to the charges, without 
>>getting you into the jurisdiction.
>
>I would like to see an essay on "PLEA IN ABATEMENT" describing the process,
>theories, and law behind it.  Would you care to educate me?

I would certainly like to,
but I am too incredibly busy
right now, trying to recover
from the deliberate scuttling
which has been done to the 
several key cases I have 
worked on in recent weeks.
I don't believe I am tooting
my own horn when I say that 
I have had my life threatened
at least 12 times in the past
3 months.  

I must be doing something right,
or they would not have bothered.  :-)

Maybe we can persuade one of
the junior members of the list
to investigate this issue.
"Abatement" is not a term
that was invented by Randy Lee
and company; on the contrary,
it is an ancient procedure which 
derives from the common law.
I would expect Randy Lee to 
agree with my last statement.

/s/ Paul Mitchell


>
>>Such a PLEA IN ABATEMENT is done by 
>>special appearance only, UNDER PROTEST
>>(you might also add "AND BY SPECIAL VISITATION").
>>That makes it very clear that you are not
>>making a general appearance, granting 
>>jurisdiction.  Remember, the courts can
>>only proceed, and only have legitimate
>>jurisdiction, when the indictment is 
>>proper and the grand jury is lawfully
>>convened. 
>
>Well, there is no Grand Jury involved in driver's license cases.  Still
>where is the authority of the Prosecutor to bring foreign law and a foreign
>court against a Citizen.  It seems to me that the PLEA IN ABATEMENT might be
>a vehicle to attack those issues.

It always is, because it falls
into the general category of
demurrers, which have been
abolished in federal courts,
even though you can still file
a Plea "in the nature of" a 
Demurrer.

/s/ Paul Mitchell


>
>~Tom Clark
>
>
      


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