A Washington “sovereign citizen” was sentenced to three years for threatening to “arrest” a local mayor, and telling her that resistance will be met “with all necessary force.”
David Russell Myrland admitted to threatening Kirkland Mayor Joan McBride, and sending a series of threatening letters to various public officials in the city.
U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez sentenced Myrland to three years and said that Myrland practiced “self-deception” about how the law works, adding that he did not believe Myrland accepted responsibility for his actions. “I want to see you walk the walk, not just talk the talk,” Martinez said, according to SeattlePI.com.
In a letter to the court last week, Myrland continued to defend himself. “My last act (in Kirkland) would have been my presentation of documents and testimony to an independent panel of concerned adults to see if they agree with my accusations,” he said. “I am too smart to reoffend – it can’t happen. I’ve spent over nine months in federal prison under standards which appear to be a precedent, the first time a citizen’s arrest is deemed ‘kidnapping and injury.'”
Myrland troubles with the law began in August 10, 2010, after he was pulled over in a traffic stop for driving without a license plate. The officer who pulled him over observed that he had a gun in the car, according to court documents, and when asked why he didn’t have a license plate, Myrland replied that he was “not subject to Washington State Laws,” adding that the officer did not have the legal authority to stop him.
During the course of the stop, Myrland was searched and found to be wearing a shoulder holster for a semiautomatic pistol under his jacket, with two magazines in the holster. Myrland said the gun was to “shoot pitbulls.”
He was arrested, and after being read his rights said “apparently the Constitution doesn’t apply to me, so I must be crazy.” According to the charging documents, on the way to the police department, Myrland told the officer that he was in a “dangerous position” and Myrland was in a position to “arrest” him for this “unlawful” arrest.
Around August 30, Myrland sent an e-mail to the Mayor of Kirkland’s e-mail address saying that he was planning to “apply to a panel of Americans to offer evidence of felonious conduct on your part, which constitutes an ongoing threat to Public Safety, hoping to cause the issuance of a “WRIT OF PROBABLE CAUSE” to substantiate the arrest of your person.” He added that a group of “50 or more concerned Citizens” would go to the Mayor’s home and arrest her. “DO NOT RESIST as these Citizens will be heavily armed and will meet all resistance with all necessary force, as provided by law.” He added that the Mayor should keep her front and back doors unlocked “to better facilitate your lawful arrest.”
In another instance, in September, 2010, Myrland called a Kirkland Assistant City Attorney at his home and left him a voice message that said: “Keep your doors unlocked. Don’t resist. You’re going to be meeting people.” Myrland later admitted to a detective with the police department that he left the message.
Myrland has been linked to a group of Washington-area sovereign citizens who call themselves “County Rangers,” that have recently been facing a slew of various charges for tax fraud, among other things. They have also been linked to Alaska Peacemaker Militia leader Schaeffer Cox.
