ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997 TAG: 9704240077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE THE ROANOKE TIMES
The Pulaski militia member Wednesday began serving a 27-month sentence for possessing illegal weapons.
There were no impassioned speeches this time.
A subdued Bill Stump took off his belt and handed it to his mother, plunked his pocket change down on the defense table and followed U.S. deputy marshals into the federal court lock-up Wednesday afternoon to begin serving his 27-month sentence.
It was the shortest sentence Chief U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser was allowed to give the Pulaski militia member for handling weapons with illegal silencers. He ordered Stump to begin serving it immediately, recommending that he be sent to the federal prison in Butner, N.C.
Kiser had tried to give Stump just 60 days in jail at his original sentencing last year, but he was overturned by an appellate court.
Stump, a self-taught student of the Constitution who believes the federal government has little legal power in the states, asked to remain on bond while he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But Kiser said that, when considering an appeal bond, a judge must look at the defendant's chances.
"I think your likelihood of success at the Supreme Court is nil," he told Stump. "Having determined that, the law tells me I can't grant you bond."
Stump appeared to both try Kiser's patience and amuse him as he acted as his own attorney at his 1995 trial, arguing vociferously that the federal court system is illegitimate and has no right to hear cases in the state of Virginia. But Kiser also seemed to admire the defendant's strength of conviction, even as Stump served him repeatedly with lawsuits charging the judge with trying him illegally.
In his original sentence, the judge noted that most of Stump's co-defendants, three of whom signed plea agreements with the government, received better deals than he did.
"Of all these people, Mr. Stump - because of the tenacity of his beliefs - is going to fare worse than they did," Kiser said in March 1996. "This is not the government's doing; it's his doing."
Only one of Stump's co-defendants, who were fellow members of the Blue Ridge Hunt Club, received a longer sentence. The leader of the now-defunct citizens' militia, James Roy Mullins, got five years in prison on weapon and conspiracy charges. Two received four months' house arrest. The fourth was acquitted.
Stump was found guilty by a jury of two charges of possession of illegal silencers, but was acquitted of a conspiracy charge.
Last year, Kiser sentenced Stump to two months in jail and two months' house arrest, ruling that his handling of Mullins' guns, equipped with homemade silencers, at a Hunt Club meeting was simply a "bare-bones possession" of them. Since Stump used them only for target practice and not to commit another crime, federal sentencing guidelines calling for 27 to 33 months didn't apply, Kiser said.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and sent the case back to Kiser for resentencing.
Tracey Stump, who sat outside the courtroom with her four sons after the hearing Wednesday, said she supported her husband's commitment to his beliefs and didn't regret that he turned down a plea bargain that would have required no prison time.
The family, including Stump's mother, Barbara, who has served as his defense assistant, seemed surprised that he was taken into custody immediately.
Stump, a machinist, stayed at home with his children while working on his defense and appeals in the past few years. "I guess I'll have to start looking for a baby sitter," Tracey Stump said.
Her husband is still working on an appeal to the Supreme Court, and he can appeal this latest sentence to the 4th Circuit again. He carried his briefcase as he was led away by deputy marshals.
While he didn't put up much of a fight over his sentence, Stump was not without a hint of his usual defiance. After Kiser declared the court adjourned and stepped down from the bench, Stump served him with another suit.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Stump. color.by CNB