More on Hovind's Trial

The Pensacola News Journal has been following the arrest of Kent Hovind closely. A trial date has been set for September 5th and Hovind has pled innocent to the charges (well, kind of). And I can't wait to see how the court treats some of the profoundly silly claims of immunity that Hovind is making. And get this: he has a public defender, who must be rolling their eyes at some of the things Hovind wants him to argue:

Hovind's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Kafahni Nkrumah, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Miles Davis at a hearing Monday that his client did not want to enter a plea because he does not believe the United States, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Attorney's Office "have jurisdiction in this matter."

When pressed by Davis to enter a plea of either guilty or not guilty, Hovind said he wished to enter a plea of "subornation of false muster."

"Subornation," according to Webster's Dictionary, means instigating another to do something illegal. "Muster" is an assembly, often for inspection or roll call.

When pressed by Davis, Hovind said he was entering a not guilty plea "under duress."

Why does he think the government has no jurisdiction has no jurisdiction in this matter? You're gonna love this:

When asked where he lived, Kent Hovind replied, "I live in the church of Jesus Christ, which is located all over the world. I have no residence."

This guy and his looney legal theories are going to go down in flames inside a court of law. This is going to be fun to watch.

More like this

From the Pensacola newspaper: A Pensacola evangelist was arrested Thursday and indicted in federal court on 58 charges that include income tax evasion, making threats against investigators and filing false complaints against Internal Revenue Service agents. U.S. Magistrate Judge Miles Davis handed…
I never thought I'd say this, but WND has a reasonable article on Kent Hovind's legal troubles. It just recites the facts of the case, although I suspect they somehow expect their readership to view it through their Jesus glasses and see it as an indictment of the government. Still, the illogic of…
The description of the end of the Hovind trial from the Pensacola News Journal can be found below the fold. Foolish little man. Pensacola evangelist and tax protester Kent Hovind winked at his wife and gave her a reassuring smile as he was led away to jail. Jo Hovind clutched the necktie he had…
(Since Kent Hovind is in the news for tax evasion again, I thought it would be nice to bring this article over here to the shiny new site.) Ah, the continuing saga of Kent Hovind's criminal industries…Hovind is an inexplicably popular creationist who, in addition to his dedication to creationist…

Interestingly, a google search for "subornation of false muster" turns up one document, from the Washington appellate court:

http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=…

This case, too, involves a defendant who claims to be a "citizen of heaven", bound by God's laws and not the state's, and whose arguments contained "a mixture of legal arguments and biblical citations." Bad news for Kent -- it didn't work.

When asked where he lived, Kent Hovind replied, "I live in the church of Jesus Christ, which is located all over the world. I have no residence."

It'd be fun to waltz into his house, plop down on the couch with a big bag of Cheetos, and watch some television. If he complains you say, "Hey man, this house doesn't belong to you, it belongs to Jesus, and Jesus said I could watch the Sell This House marathon here. Now shut up and get me a beer."

I am curious how Mr. Hovind reconciles his position with the language of Romans 13 to submit to the civil authorities. Paul is much clearer on this matter than he is when it comes to demonizing, say, homosexuality.

The trial should make short work of the tax protest arguments. The conspiracy charge (essentially a money-laundering charge) should be more interesting.

Yes, he claims to own no property yet he posted a "special notice to local, state and federal government agents, employees and inspectors" saying they could not come on his property without "prior written consent."

By Joe de Lange (not verified) on 19 Jul 2006 #permalink

Joe-

Perhaps the sign was made by Jesus? After all, it is His property.

I still laugh when I think what Pensacola County Commission Chairman Mike Whitehead had to say about Hovind's Dino Adventure Land: "Scripture also says 'Render unto Caesar what Caesar demands.' And right now, Caesar demands a building permit."

By Kenneth Fair (not verified) on 19 Jul 2006 #permalink

I feel sorry for the poor court-appointed public defender who has to deal with this crap. For his sake, I hope that Hovind decides to defend himself in court.