The man who defends himself in Court..... [View all]

[brooklynite]

Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews

Maneuvering thru DC federal court this morning on a busy day of Jan 6 hearings
Quite a moment just now in USA v James Beeks, a former Jesus Christ Superstar performer, who’s defending himself in the case
After string of claims consistent w/ sovereign citizen movement..

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..Beeks asks judge Amit Mehta for “summary judgment” in case
Mehta replies that such a thing is not possible in the federal criminal case
Beeks is also arguing court doesn’t have proper “jurisdiction”
He shows a copy of his birth certificate & assorted other papers

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Judge Mehta, showing no expression on face, listens to Beeks’ arguments for a few minutes, then stops Beeks.
Judge says “you’re charged in the District of Columbia w/ a federal crime.. I have jurisdiction”
Beeks: Can I ask you to explain why?
Judge sends Beeks back to table

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Meanwhile, upstairs on 6th floor, Jan 6 defendant Alan Hostetter is also defending himself at trial. He’s cross examining the star witness—Hostetter’s fellow Jan 6 defendant who is cooperating w/ Feds
Cross-examination has drawn just a couple of admonishments from judge

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Prosecutor objected when Hostetter, of California, peppered one line of questioning with 80’s movie trivia.
About a fellow Californian whom both he and the witness knew— who appeared apparently in “Lethal Weapon”

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Hostetter has mixed in some claims and lines in his cross-examination … saying “a million people were outside the Capitol making a lot of noise, peacefully protesting” on Jan 6
(It’s a dubious claim about crowd size and also presumes “peaceful”)

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No objection to that claim and question from Hostetter by Justice Dept
But this is a bench trial. No jury here. It’s Judge Royce Lamberth who will decide whether to find Hostetter guilty
At pretrial hearings, Hostetter has renewed baseless claims that Trump won 2020 election