In a baffling series of court motions filed Thursday, one of the men who led a 41-day occupation earlier this year of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon declared himself a sovereign citizen free from the bounds of federal laws.
Ryan Bundy claimed that he was a “idiot of the ‘Legal Society’” in documents filed to U.S. District Court Judge Anna Brown, as Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
“I, ryan c, man, am an idiot of the ‘Legal Society’; and; am an idiot (layman, outsider) of the ‘Bar Association’; and; i am incompetent; and; am not required by any law to be competent,” Bundy wrote.
Along with his brother Ammon and some two dozen others, Bundy faces felony conspiracy charges for illegally occupying the wildlife refuge in remote eastern Oregon to protest federal land ownership.
Ryan Bundy is representing himself in the case.
In another filing, he declared himself a sovereign citizen of the “bundy society” who was a creation of God, not a “person” as defined by “the unholy bible of the Legal Society.”
His brother, Ammon Bundy, signed the declaration of sovereign citizenship as a witness.
Ryan Bundy’s behavior has become increasingly erratic since he was jailed this spring. Earlier in July, he prepared for an escape attempt by braiding his bed sheets into a 12-15 foot rope and stockpiling food and other goods.
After authorities prevented the escape, he told Judge Robert Jones that he was “a rancher, trying to practice braiding rope,” according to OPB.
Read some of the filings below, courtesy of OPB:
I think The Idiot Sovereign Citizen Society is not a small one.
He’s just trying to get a padded cell. And maybe some paper and crayons to occupy his time. God bless him.
This alone is reason enough not to let him back into society.
Rise, Lord Dipshitticus Rex of the Idiots.
Well, well, well. I’ll have to raise my opinion of Ryan. He knows he’s an idiot.