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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1121stewart21.html
Ex-teacher gets prison term
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24 years in judge's murder solicitation
Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 21, 2003 12:00 AM
At a federal court sentencing Thursday, 64-year-old Robert D. Stewart of Mesa spoke reverently of the Bill of Rights, recited federal statutes from memory and begged "for justice."
Then the constitutional scholar was sentenced to 24 years in prison for soliciting the murder of a U.S. District Court judge who convicted him previously on firearms charges.
"This is a man who was bent on bringing down the entire justice system," prosecutor Patrick Schneider declared before the sentence was announced.
Earlier this year, a jury found Stewart guilty of offering fellow inmate August Weiss $100,000 in machine guns and cash for the political assassination of Judge Rosyln Silver.
The motive: Silver had presided over Stewart's 2002 conviction on illegal weapons charges and had refused to accept his freeman-style legal arguments.
Schneider said Stewart went into a "smoldering rage" over Silver's rulings because he believes the federal government has no authority over him.
Once in prison, Stewart provided information designed to help a hit man stalk the judge.
Schneider said the assassin was supposed to "cut her head off and have it hung from a pole," sparking a wave of copycat murders targeting court officers who reject the hard-line militia theory of American law.
Stewart, a former history teacher, offered an impassioned defense, reeling off reasons why he should not have been convicted and should not spend the rest of his life behind bars.
First, Stewart told Judge Howard McKibben that the case against him was "a setup" involving a jailhouse snitch who lied and a tape-recording that was fabricated by federal agents. He said cover-ups in the bloody law enforcement fiascoes at Waco and Ruby Ridge are proof that the FBI falsifies evidence.
Next, Stewart claimed that the federal government has authority to enforce only three criminal laws in the 50 states: treason, counterfeiting and crimes committed on the high seas.
Even if federal courts had authority to hear murder cases, he argued, the prison he stayed in was Arizona territory, outside that jurisdiction.
Finally, Stewart alleged that making and selling machine guns is a Second Amendment right and his convictions in the past were all "anti-constitutional."
After McKibben rejected those arguments, and others, Stewart observed that judges are "not immune."
"Is this a court of law, your honor?" he asked. "I'm not begging for mercy. I'm begging for justice.
"The good Lord knows the purpose of all this. He knows the truth of everything."
Stewart was sentenced to 232 months in prison for soliciting violence, plus 60 months for lying to FBI agents.
The combined 24-plus years will run consecutively with a five-year term he is serving for illegal gun possession.
Besides the Arizona cases, Stewart also had a 1997 machine-gun conviction in Utah.
Reach the reporter at [email protected] or (602) 444-8874.
Ex-teacher gets prison term
advertisement
24 years in judge's murder solicitation
Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 21, 2003 12:00 AM
At a federal court sentencing Thursday, 64-year-old Robert D. Stewart of Mesa spoke reverently of the Bill of Rights, recited federal statutes from memory and begged "for justice."
Then the constitutional scholar was sentenced to 24 years in prison for soliciting the murder of a U.S. District Court judge who convicted him previously on firearms charges.
"This is a man who was bent on bringing down the entire justice system," prosecutor Patrick Schneider declared before the sentence was announced.
Earlier this year, a jury found Stewart guilty of offering fellow inmate August Weiss $100,000 in machine guns and cash for the political assassination of Judge Rosyln Silver.
The motive: Silver had presided over Stewart's 2002 conviction on illegal weapons charges and had refused to accept his freeman-style legal arguments.
Schneider said Stewart went into a "smoldering rage" over Silver's rulings because he believes the federal government has no authority over him.
Once in prison, Stewart provided information designed to help a hit man stalk the judge.
Schneider said the assassin was supposed to "cut her head off and have it hung from a pole," sparking a wave of copycat murders targeting court officers who reject the hard-line militia theory of American law.
Stewart, a former history teacher, offered an impassioned defense, reeling off reasons why he should not have been convicted and should not spend the rest of his life behind bars.
First, Stewart told Judge Howard McKibben that the case against him was "a setup" involving a jailhouse snitch who lied and a tape-recording that was fabricated by federal agents. He said cover-ups in the bloody law enforcement fiascoes at Waco and Ruby Ridge are proof that the FBI falsifies evidence.
Next, Stewart claimed that the federal government has authority to enforce only three criminal laws in the 50 states: treason, counterfeiting and crimes committed on the high seas.
Even if federal courts had authority to hear murder cases, he argued, the prison he stayed in was Arizona territory, outside that jurisdiction.
Finally, Stewart alleged that making and selling machine guns is a Second Amendment right and his convictions in the past were all "anti-constitutional."
After McKibben rejected those arguments, and others, Stewart observed that judges are "not immune."
"Is this a court of law, your honor?" he asked. "I'm not begging for mercy. I'm begging for justice.
"The good Lord knows the purpose of all this. He knows the truth of everything."
Stewart was sentenced to 232 months in prison for soliciting violence, plus 60 months for lying to FBI agents.
The combined 24-plus years will run consecutively with a five-year term he is serving for illegal gun possession.
Besides the Arizona cases, Stewart also had a 1997 machine-gun conviction in Utah.
Reach the reporter at [email protected] or (602) 444-8874.