Hartford VanDyke Jr.
a $ 1.76 billion lien against Judge John C. Coughenour &
Sat Dec 14 22:26:47 2002
208.152.73.228

THE COLUMBIAN
Friday, February 21, 1997
Section: B section
Page: 2

DEFENDANTS' SUPPORTERS FILE LIEN AGAINST JUDGE AND PROSECUTORS

AP

SEATTLE (AP) -- Supporters of seven defendants on trial in U.S. District Court in an anti-government conspiracy case have filed a $ 1.76 billion lien against Judge John C. Coughenour and five federal prosecutors.

The document was filed Tuesday in federal court by Hartford VanDyke Jr. of Battle Ground on behalf of the National Association for Commercial Accountability, which has a Lynnwood address, and on behalf of nine people who were charged in the alleged conspiracy against the government.

U.S. Attorney Harry McCarthy, head of the federal criminal division here, said similar papers have been filed against the government before.

"To my knowledge, none of them has ever been sustained," he told The Bellingham Herald. "We have a process here with respect to those sorts of filings and get those fairly easily dismissed."

Two of the nine already have pleaded guilty. A U.S. District Court jury is deliberating the charges against the others who are members of or have ties to the Washington State Militia and Freemen.

The papers name VanDyke, Carl Roman Iverson of Sultan and Ross Tylor of Mill Creek as the association's agents.

McCarthy said VanDyke, Iverson and Tylor have no legal standing because they're not parties to the criminal case.

"There's nothing for the court to consider," he said.

The eight-page document seeks, in part, to remove the criminal case from federal court and turn it over to the state.

VanDyke accused the judge and the prosecutors of conspiring to overthrow the state and U.S. governments, defrauding the nine defendants of their rights and kidnapping them into federal jurisdiction.

Both Iverson and Tylor filed liens against property owned by Chelan County Sheriff Dan Breda and other Eastern Washington officials involved in the prosecution of a Wenatchee man who claimed he didn't have to have a driver's license. Chelan and Douglas county officials went to court and had the liens declared illegal.

In 1994, Tylor filed a lien against a Snohomish County Superior Court judge who handled a civil case against him. Another judge ruled the lien was filed with malicious intent.

In July, Iverson and two other men filed numerous court papers in Monroe stemming from Iverson's arrest on charges of driving without a driver's license and having no liability insurance. The documents originated from a tribunal described as "our one supreme court" in Justus Township in King County.

Iverson has a history of running afoul of police in Snohomish and King counties because he claims that driving is a right, not a privilege, so police have no authority to arrest him.

In a separate court action, Gene and Mary Goosman of Seattle filed a motion and affidavit against Coughenour demanding that he "obey his oath of office" in presiding over the conspiracy trial.

The Goosmans, who have attended most of the federal trial, accused Coughenour and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Dohrmann, the lead prosecutor, of violating their oaths and tampering with evidence.

The Goosmans are unhappy that the judge refused to allow the jury to see a pamphlet called the "Citizens Rule Book." The book includes a claim that jury tampering is acceptable, and it encourages jurors to nullify laws they believe are bad by acquitting defendants. It also says jurors don't have to obey any judge or attorney.
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