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Brown Trial: July 8, 2009: From Make the Stand to Take the Stand
By JJ MacNab | July 8, 2009
If you want to convince a jury that you’re not a militia guy, it’s probably best if your supporters don’t show up wearing militia chic – you know the look: camouflage pants, black t-shirt, suspenders and hiking boots. One supporter even used an infamous “International Driver’s License” to gain access to the courthouse today.
The general mood in the court was a mix of tired and hopeful. It seems that everyone (other than Ed) is ready for the Ed Brown mess to finally come to an end so they can move on to “normal” stuff.
Ed Brown Cross Examination (Continued)
Ed took his place back at the stand to be poached, marinated, and grilled by the prosecutor. He wasn’t carrying his UCC book this time, so he’ll probably blame any and all guilty verdicts on the lack of suitable sovrun citizen protective gear.
The prosecutor asked Ed about his daily radio show on Republic Broadcast Network (RBN) called “Ed Brown under Siege.”
Prosecutor: Is it fair to say that the purpose of this radio show was to make comments to supporters?
Ed: No, it was to make comments to the world. The statements were to warn the world of the danger we are in, the same way JFK did before he was assassinated.
Ed didn’t remember a particular RBN radio show dated 3/20/2007, and the prosecutor quoted a few lines to refresh his memory
Elaine Brown: You’ve got to use force.
Ed Brown: How?
Elaine Brown: To the death.
Elaine Brown: We don’t know how this will end. But there are only two ways we are coming out of here. Either as a free man and as a free woman or in body bags. That has not changed, and that’s the stand that everyone must take. Because if we come out in body bags, there’s going to be a few more, too. That’s not a threat. That’s just noticing them that this is the stand that we will take. We have not changed our minds.
Ed agreed that Elaine may have said that, and explained what she meant: “We live in the Live Free or Die state. Do you know what that means?”
Ed was asked about the Jamboree and BBQ and he said that he never invited or wanted supporters to come to the home those days.
Ed had a tantrum or two, and the judge sent him out of the room to count to ten and think about what he’d done. It’s interesting; when Ed is at the defense table he acts out like a pre-teen (he can’t sit still, he’s always talking to his lawyer, Elaine, or people in the audience, and he makes a lot of faces. When he’s on the stand, though, he’s pure teenager – smirking, making sarcastic comments, and erratically rebellious. For example, at one point, Ed smirked at the judge and said “Good job” sarcastically when the judge denied Ed’s attorney’s motion.
Defense Witness Christine Arvizu
Ms. Arvizu is a dental patient of Elaine’s who lives in White River Junction, VT. She originally went to Elaine’s dental practice in West Lebanon, but ended up having her teeth worked on in the Plainfield home. She felt a little apprehensive about going to the home, and never saw any guns or explosives. She also attended one of the concerts.
Defense Witness Shaun Farnsworth
Mr. Farnsworth is a contractor who worked on the Plainfield home for two years. He was at the home in 2006 when the Marshals and the Probation Officers showed up to collect Ed’s guns. The Marshals asked the witness “a lot of quirky questions” at the time about whether he’d seen guns or explosives, which he hadn’t. The witness stuck around the rest of the day to watch the trial.
Witness Susan Berge
Ms. Berge has lived in Burrillville, RI “Lordy Lou, since 1976.” Of all of the witnesses in this trial, I’ve found her to be the strangest. Ms. Berge writes a stock analysis newsletter for institutional investors. She looks the part, dresses professionally, and appears to be an educated woman.
In 2007, Ms. Berge was sitting at her computer when she saw a scrolling headline that said something along the lines of “Elderly couple in standoff with feds”. She started following the story in local NH newspapers but became concerned when there was a period with no news.
She got worried, but instead of picking up a phone and calling, she got in her car and drove 175 miles to Plainfield, NH in late June. She didn’t even know how to get to the house, and had to stop at several businesses and ask.
She was surprised that there were no roadblocks or signs and was anxious because she’d heard there were Marshals hiding in the woods. Since the Browns didn’t know she was coming, she parked near the front door so they could see her and not be afraid. She stayed and chatted with the Browns for three hours and drove home.
Ms. Berge returned for a Jamboree and was excited to meet her hero Randy Weaver. She found the helicopter buzzing around the concert to be unnerving and claimed that there were people at the concert who were in their 60s and 70s who were WWII vets.
She returned again to the home in late August / early September.
Witness Dave von Kleist
Mr. Von Kleist was the singer who ran the first Brown Jamboree and who sang at the second. He met the Browns briefly in 1997 and had Elaine on his “Power Hour” show in 2007.
The witness was wearing a suit in court but is usually seen in a red, white and blue “stars and bars” shirt. He claimed to have a dozen of those shirts in his closet.
The first Jamboree attracted 40 to 50 people, and the second one had roughly 100 people in attendance.
When the defense attorney played a video of the second Jamboree where a helicopter was circling overhead, the witness literally burst into tears. “It breaks my heart,” he said watching the video.
While weeping, he said he saw Ed wearing a gun, but not Elaine, and kept coming back to the helicopter.
Witness: We just saw what happened with the helicopter. It should strike fear in the hearts of every American.
After he was dismissed, Von Kleist walked by the jury, leaned in, and told them “God save us all.” The judge was not amused and he was detained temporarily by the Marshals.
Witness David Hatch Bernier
Mr. Hatch-Bernier is Elaine’s son. He’s the one she stayed with in Massachusetts when she was released pending her sentencing in 2007. He helped design the Plainfield house and said it was eco-friendly, not heavily fortified or geared towards survivalist mentality. He said he never saw firearms at the house but assumed the couple had them. He is anti-guns.
The defense rested.
Closing arguments will be covered in a separate post shortly.
Topics: Ed Brown, Elaine Brown, Tax Deniers | 3 Comments »
July 9th, 2009 at 1:21 am
poached, marinated, and grilled, It should strike fear in the hearts of every American. Ms. MacNab is a nationally recognized apprehensive
fool
oldBuck
007@78ow
LOL
July 9th, 2009 at 4:17 am
while Old Buck is merely a locally-known fool-of-all-trades
July 9th, 2009 at 6:56 am
“We saw what happened with the helicopter”?
What was that all about?