Due Process of Law

Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

Bad men, like good men, are entitled to be tried and sentenced in accordance with law, and when it is shown to us that a person is serving an illegal sentence our obligation is to direct that proper steps be taken to correct the wrong done, without regard to the character of a particular defendant or to the possible effect on others who might also want to challenge the legality of their sentences as they have the right to do ‘at any time’ under Rule 35. If it has any relevance at all, the fact that there may be other prisoners in this country’s jails serving illegal sentences would seem to me to make it all the more imperative that we grant appropriate relief in this case rather than search for some obviously dubious excuse to deny this petitioner’s claim.
— Hugo Black, dissenting, Green v. United States, 365 U.S. 301, 309-310 (1961).

In early June 2022, I was stopped in Kane county, Utah. The next day, a very strange thing happened. A judge, Gary Johnson, who I’ve since learned is regarded as a libertarian by other libertarian jurists in Utah, held a hearing.

I was not invited to the hearing, nor notified of it, nor afforded the opportunity to confront the witnesses against me. As a result, I was held without bail until early September.

Among other things that happened to me, my first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, and fourteenth amendment freedoms were infringed. I would be happy to go into excruciating detail.

Even as simple a matter as getting an image of my driver licence sent from the jail to my brother so he could sell my car to pay my bail never happened. By itself, that reduced the amount he was able to sell the car for by $1,200.

In early August, I began going blind in my right eye. The jailers claimed they made an appointment for me to be seen by a doctor. Although there are three urgent care facilities in the nearby town of Kanab, I was never seen by a doctor.

I became homeless in 2020 and had to sell my car to raise money for bail, which makes it difficult to live out of my car as I’ve done quite a bit in the last few years.

Happily, my friends Cathy Smith and Rylla Smith have started a Give Send Go. You can find it at https://givesendgo.com/G3DA3?utm_source=sharelink&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=G3DA3.

A very good friend of mine suggested that I write another book. It would be my sixth. I’ve decided to give a copy of it to anyone who donates $20 or more to the Give Send Go. The title of the book is Rogue Joe: America’s Most Corrupt President.

Note: See the video on this book. — Editor