Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 19, 1995 TAG: 9509190062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Not your typical day in U.S. District Court.
Bill Stump's long-delayed trial on weapon charges began Monday amid heightened security, courthouse confusion and a frustrated judge who ordered reporters out of the building to conduct interviews.
Stump is a member of a Pulaski County citizens' militia and a "strict constitutionalist" who is representing himself because he believes lawyers are part of the corrupt system. He got things going Monday morning - even before the jury was chosen - by arguing with the judge and declaring that he is the victim of an illegal judicial system.
"I'm not here voluntarily. I understand this trial is a crime," he told U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser. "Let the record show I'm not here voluntarily."
"That's abundantly clear," Kiser said. "Sit down and be quiet. ... I'm going to run this trial, not you."
Kiser would not allow the entire pool of 40 potential jurors in the courtroom at one time, worried that the whole panel could be "poisoned" by responses to questions about the militia group, known as the Blue Ridge Hunt Club.
He brought the juror candidates in a few at a time and made Stump and Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Wolthuis submit their questions to him to ask. Stump strenuously objected to not being able to hear the responses of all 40 before having to choose jurors.
Kiser said if he erred in not proceeding with the usual manner of jury selection, it could be corrected by the appeals court.
"After I'm already in prison, being beaten, infected, sodomized?'' Stump asked.
Later, Stump tried - over the judge's objections - to ask one panel of prospective jurors a question about Mark Fuhrman and the FBI shootout with Randy Weaver in Idaho. Two deputy marshals wrestled him back to his seat and pinned his arms down as the judge hurried the jurors out of the room. "I had no idea just how brutal and criminal these officers can be," Stump said as they forced him into his seat.
"If you fail to obey the court," Kiser warned, "I'll have you bound and gagged."
"In effect, that's what I already have been," responded Stump, who is upset that the judge will not allow him to argue to the jury that the U.S. judicial system violates the Constitution.
Stump's trial originally was set for April, but Kiser postponed it because it coincided with the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City and publicity about citizens' militias. It was delayed again this summer because of a death in Stump's family.
The U.S. Marshal's Service had extra security in the courtroom Monday and a marshal himself sat in the courtroom for much of the day.
But courtroom personnel seemed disorganized. First, prospective jurors were allowed to watch a TV newscast about the case while waiting to be summoned for questioning.
"I cannot believe that. That's absolutely unconscionable," Kiser fumed. He asked two potential jurors at 12:25 p.m. if they had seen or read anything about the case and was told they had just seen it on a noon newscast in the jury assembly room.
Kiser sprang up and left the room to consult with the jury coordinator. It was determined that only some of the jury pool was in the room when the news came on.
Later, jurors returning from lunch were not told where to report and milled around outside the locked courtroom. They were present while some reporters questioned Stump, and may have overheard conversations about the case.
Kiser then had U.S. Marshal Larry Mattox summon reporters to the hall and tell them no interviews could be conducted inside the Poff Federal Building until the three- to four-day trial was over. An attorney for The Roanoke Times will ask the judge today to reconsider.
Kiser showed he clearly wanted to ensure that Stump gets a fair trial and has an impartial jury.
It took all day to seat a jury and hear opening arguments. Witnesses will begin testifying today.
Wolthuis warned jurors Monday that, throughout the trial, "there will be attempts to go far afield," alluding to Stump's charges of a government conspiracy to discredit him for his political activities opposing gun control.
The trial is "a case about a man who possessed a firearm he shouldn't have had," Wolthuis said. "That's all it's about."
He also has been charged with conspiracy to violate firearm laws.
Stump told the jury the government's informant, who served as the hunt club's vice president, went out of his way to get Stump to join the club. It was part of a plan to "punish" Stump for his political activities.
"They had already decided to punish me," he said. "Then they had their spy draw me in."
by CNB