Judge drops out of Brown aid cases

WHAT A SCAM THIS GUY IS, HE IS STEPPING DOWN BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT THE ENTIRE PROCESS AND THE CHARGES ARE FALSE AND CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED AND PERSONALLY I HAVE HAD TAX LAW LAWYERS TELL ME SO. ALL THE BROWNS SAY IS IF THEY ARE ATTACKED THEY WILL DEFEND THEIR HOME AND THEMSELVES. THEY DO NOT THREATEN OTHERS WITH HARM AND ALL THAT OTHER CRAP.....THAT IS NOTHING BUT LIES AND PROPAGANDA TO MAKE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE CRAZY.
ALL THEY WANT IS THE LAW TO BE SHOWN WHERE THE US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS THE RIGHT TO TAX AMERICANS ON THEIR WAGES, WHICH IS THEIR PROPERTY BECAUSE WE EARN IT BY OUR WORK. THEY AS OTHERS ASKED, JUST TO BE SHOWN THE LAW AND THEY WILL PAY THEIR TAXES. EVEN THE IRS CHAIR COULD NOT SHOW THE LAW ON CSPAN WHEN HE WAS ASKED TO.....EVERYONE KNOWS ITS A SCAM, BUT NO ENOUGH PEOPLE WILL WAKE UP AND USE THEIR BRAINS TO THINK OR READ THE CONSTITUTION.

Margot Sanger-Katz
Concord Monitor
Thursday September 20, 2007

A federal judge has recused himself from the cases of two men charged with helping Plainfield tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown escape capture, saying that threats made against him by the Browns and their entourage might lead to the appearance of a conflict.

According to an order signed by Judge Steven McAuliffe, who presided over the Browns' tax evasion trial, he has declined to oversee the cases of Cirino Gonzalez and Daniel Riley, two men accused of providing security for the Browns and bringing them weapons.

"I think recusal in this case is both warranted and appropriate, given the close circumstantial relatedness between the charged conspiracy and reported public statements by the Browns and others associated with them over the past several months," McAuliffe wrote. "Because these public statements included threats of violence and physical harm directed at me, a reasonable person, fully informed of the facts, might understandably question my ability to remain impartial."

Since a jury found the Browns guilty of a series of tax-related felonies in January, the Browns and their supporters have made repeated calls for retribution against McAuliffe, whom they've described as treasonous. Numerous blog posts and radio hosts have called McAuliffe a criminal, and some have suggested that he should be hanged for his crimes.

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Locally, Brown supporters have suggested publicly that McAuliffe deserves death for his part in the couple's case, although some have since distanced themselves from those comments.

Bill Miller, a friend of Ed Brown and a member of the U.S. Constitution Rangers, a national anti-government group that Brown once led, sent an e-mail in January describing his outrage over the Browns' treatment in court.
"Here are the reasons why I am going to see federal district court judge Steven McAuliffe (husband of astronaut Christa McAuliffe), hanged for treason against our Constitution, and hence, the People," it read. Miller later said he was not calling for the hanging of the judge.

Ed Brown, for his part, has named McAuliffe as a possible target for his followers on several occasions, identifying him as part of a "Zionist Illuminati" plot to rob Americans of their freedoms.

"This is a warning," Brown said in a February radio broadcast, mentioning McAuliffe by name as a member of the "Zionist Illuminati." "Once this thing starts, we're going to seek them out and hunt them down. And we're going to bring them to justice. So anybody wishes to join them, you go right ahead and join them. But I promise you, long after I'm gone, they're going to seek out every one of you and your bloodline."

In a video posted on the internet later that month, he mentioned McAuliffe again.

"I wouldn't want to be this judge or these other people. . . . Their names are already out there," he said. "They are just as vulnerable as I am. And if they're so foolish and stupid to think that they're not, hey, doom on them."

More recently, Brown has said he has provided followers with a list of targets in the event he is harmed by federal agents.

The Browns and their supporters say that McAuliffe did not give the couple a fair trial because he prevented them from presenting evidence that no law compels ordinary Americans to pay the federal income tax. They have said that McAuliffe colluded with IRS officials and prosecutors to punish the Browns for bringing the truth to light.

For nearly eight months, the Browns have been holed up in their home, threatening that any attempt to arrest them will end in violence.

Neither Riley nor Gonzalez has said much publicly about McAuliffe, but both have been close allies of the Browns, spending time at the couple's fortified concrete home and lending assistance and supplies. According to court documents, they are accused of brining multiple high-powered rifles to the house to defend the couple from an arrest attempt, providing security for the couple, and performing other tasks designed to thwart U.S. marshals charged with arresting the couple. They are among four Brown supporters who were arrested outside New Hampshire last week.

Many of the threats against McAuliffe were issued between the Browns' conviction and their sentencing hearing in April, but McAuliffe did not recuse himself from the couple's sentencing. At the hearing, he opted to give them prison sentences in line with a probation department recommendation of 63 months.

McAuliffe's order said that he had "no doubt" about his ability to remain impartial in Riley and Gonzalez's case; he had chosen to recuse himself to remove "even an appearance of partiality."

The cases have been reassigned to Judge Paul Barbadoro.