A Jan. 6 prisoner is preparing to defend himself against government efforts to confiscate crowdfunding dollars by filing a complaint against a federal judge.
"It is my reasonable belief that Magistrate Flynn violated the Erie Doctrine; the Fifth, Sixth, and Tenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the jurisdiction of the state of Florida, and Florida's trust laws," Brown's draft complaint states.
In his handwritten presentencing notes, Brown says he was provided a revised presentence investigation report "one working week" before his April 7 sentencing date, "well beyond the Mid-March deadline for changes."
Capitol Terrorist Exposers
Brown's crowdfunding account was discovered by a monitoring group dedicated to turning in Jan 6 protesters.The CTE representative, whose name was redacted in the letter, acknowledged that Brown's GiveSendGo account "created on his behalf is controlled by a trust beyond his control." The writer also said the account "represented that it was a 'Campaign Created by: Jeremy Brown' as late as Jan. 30, 2022," but has "been altered to say that it presently reads 'Campaign Created by: Patriots.'"
Where it once said "checks can be received" by Brown's girlfriend, Tyleen Aldridge, at a specific P.O. Box, it has been revised to simply provide the P.O. Box address.
The Confiscation of Crowdfunding Money
As previously reported by The Epoch Times, the U.S. government has spent over two years pursuing everyone it can find who participated in the U.S. Capitol protests on Jan. 6, 2021.To this day, the FBI is actively “seeking the public’s assistance in identifying individuals” who were involved in any way with the events of that day, warning that they have deployed their "full investigative resources and are working closely with our federal, state, and local partners to aggressively pursue those involved in these criminal activities.”
In the case of Daniel Goodwyn, The Epoch Times reported that prosecutors asked for "a fine of $25,676.25," the exact amount of money his mother said was in his Donorbox account.
While Brown admits he doesn't have "full visibility" on what prosecutors are currently doing to Jan. 6 defendants, he does know "they are going after their GiveSendGos and setting their fines for the exact amount that's in their account."
'Let's Just Start With the Facts'
Carol Stewart, the attorney representing Aldridge as the trustee, describes the turn of events as a show of "amazing viciousness" by the government and Flynn."Let's just start with the facts," Stewart told The Epoch Times. "We're in Florida. This account is an oral trust, which is allowed in Florida. It was set up by friends. His girlfriend, Tyleen Aldridge, is in charge of the oral trust. Jeremy is in jail. He has no title to the money. The money never touches his accounts. It goes to her. I worked with her to set up a trust account for it that goes to his benefit. That's what the GiveSendGo says. It's to his benefit."
At a March 25 hearing, the government "grilled" Stewart "for four hours," she said.
"I know they were trying to get Tyleen or someone else on fraud and I told them to stop," Stewart recalled. "It's discretionary. She can decide what happens to the money. She's paying attorneys in D.C. because he has charges there also. This should have been done in a Florida civil court. I told the judge he did not have subject matter jurisdiction over this."
As Stewart explained, donations from the GiveSendGo account go into a Florida trust account in a Florida bank.
Precedence of State Law
Then there's the Erie Doctrine."When they're doing something outside of case law and it's regarding something relevant to the state, they have to follow state law," Stewart said about the Erie Doctrine, adding that Florida state law says trust disputes must be handled through a Florida Circuit Court.
Chris Hedges, an attorney assisting Brown in preparing his case against Flynn, agrees that Flynn had no authority to make a determination on Brown's trust.
"Judge Flynn violated the Erie Doctrine," he insisted. "He also violated the 10th Amendment. I believe he also violated Florida's Trust and Estate jurisdiction."
"Basically, they said, 'There's nothing we can do. Sorry. But here's how you file a case against a federal judge.'" Hedges recalled. "I wasn't looking to file a case against a federal judge. I was looking for the State of Florida to file an amicus brief because they would have standing with a 10th Amendment violation. The State of Florida is supposed to be a buffer that ensures the federal government doesn't do what it's not supposed to do, like invade trust and estate laws in a federal court."
In the meantime, Brown says he is waiting for his appeal to play out in the 11th Circuit Court.
The Laws
As explained by Shouse California Law Group, "A Section § 1983 lawsuit permits you to seek financial compensation for violations of your constitutional rights by state and local government officials, such as police officers or prison guards, while they were acting under color of law."While Section 1983 lawsuits can be filed in state or federal court for monetary damages or to seek "an injunction to stop the improper conduct," petitioners will "have to overcome the qualified immunity defense" to be compensated for monetary damages. Qualified immunity is a legal tenet that shields government officials from lawsuits seeking monetary damages.
Technically, Section 1983 is a procedural tool based on a federal statute, which provides federal courts with jurisdiction over civil rights cases, the law group said.
While no one can be held liable under Section 1983, it opens the door to having a respondent face liability for violating other federal laws. This explains why the alleged violation of another law—such as the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Eighth Amendment, 14th Amendment, or the Social Security Act—is always included in 1983 cases.
Florida Trust Law is an estate planning tool that provides people with the ability to manage their property and assets while living to facilitate an easy transition after death. Florida has various types of trusts in which the beneficiary can be a family member, a friend, a charity, or a beloved pet.
'Overreaching Tyranny'
Stewart said she is appalled by what she describes as the "malicious, vindictive, and evil" way the Department of Justice and its prosecutors are going after "every January 6 defendant.""Not only are they abusing the domestic terrorism charges, they are sending out inquiries to Google, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and airlines. They have DHS put them on the highest domestic terrorist watchlist and then they send their information to TSA so when they fly they get strip-searched and have people following them around the airport. They want to ensure that these people lose their businesses. They get banks to shut down their accounts and get credit card companies to cancel their cards. Ultimately they want to force them into bankruptcy, unemployment, and homelessness," she said.
"Now, if anyone has donations to help them keep their families in their homes while they are in prison, they're going after that money, too," Stewart added.
Hedges agrees.
"This is the overarching tyranny of the federal government," he said. "But when it's all said and done, Jeremy will have one hell of a civil rights case."
