Police in Chattanooga arrested welder Gregory Parker, left, despite having been put under administrative notice since Feb. 20, 2018, regarding the limits of their powers under Tenn. Code Ann. § Title 55, the state transportation law. They use that law to harass people on the road who are not involved in transportation — and who know it. (Photo 92.7 NoogaRadio)
A Chickamauga, Ga., welder is challenging Hamilton County Sessions Court Judge Lila Statom in her purported claim to jurisdiction. Gregory J. Parker of 270 Mccarty Road is being charged under the Tennessee transportation law at Tenn. Code Ann. § Title 55 by the Chattanooga police department.
On April 7 in a highway stop officers stopped Mr. Parker, arrested him and charged him with driving on a revoked driver license. Mr. Parker’s 2003 Chevrolet Silverado automobile and his welder tools were seized from a parking lot at Memorial Hospital. He took custody of the car and the property a few days later after filing a notice.
Sessions Judge Lila Statom
Sessions court judge Lila Statom is hearing his case on the 1:30 docket on Tuesday.
In a document Mr. Parker files with the court at 600 Market St. in Chattanooga he holds up his status as an American and insists that her court is impotent to seize him through the agency of the Chattanooga police department.
He says he is “a natural-born, free adult citizen of the State of Tennessee by birth” and that he is “endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights enumerated in America’s founding organic documents, which I have never with knowingly intelligent acts waived.”
In an expression of goodwill, the married father of a daughter says he is happy to pay “all Lawful taxes in jurisdictions applicable to me for the common good.”
He insists that as a private citizen he is not subject to the same laws as are corporations, or creatures of the state that operate under limited liability. He cites the famous case, Hale v. Henkel (1906). ‡
Mr. Parker lumps the court and the police as if they were of a piece, convinced that Judge Statom is “operating under a secret jurisdiction and, as such, is operating unlawfully in respect to citizens of the several states of the union.”
“[I]f you are claiming that I, in my proper person, or in my activities am ‘subject to’ and/or ‘liable for’ any action and/or tax under any law that would be applicable to me in my proper person or as to my activities as a rightful citizen, I demand that I be presented with such law on which any such determination by you is based.”
He asks several questions of the court, such as liability statute in Tennessee that creates a duty upon him, “law or judicial determination that declares that I am a ‘resident’ of Tennessee, or that my lawful activities are ‘subject to’ any Tennessee statutes,” or any contract that would create an equitable or business relationship between him and the state of Tennessee.
‡ “The individual may stand upon his constitutional rights as a citizen. He is entitled to carry on his private business in his own way. His power to contract is unlimited. He owes no duty to the state or to his neighbors to divulge his business, or to open his doors to an investigation, so far as it may tend to criminate him. He owes no such duty to the state, since he receives nothing therefrom, beyond the protection of his life and property. His rights are such as existed by the law of the land long antecedent to the organization of the state, and can only be taken from him by due process of law, and in accordance with the Constitution. Among his rights are a refusal to incriminate himself, and the immunity of himself and his property from arrest or seizure except under a warrant of the law. He owes nothing to the public as long as he does not trespass upon their rights.” Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43
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awful taxes in jurisdictions applicable to me for the common good.”
He insists that as a private citizen he is not subject to the same laws as are corporations, or creatures of the state that operate under limited liability. He cites the famous case, Hale v. Henkel (1906). ‡
Mr. Parker lumps the court and the police as if they were of a piece, convinced that Judge Statom is “operating under a secret jurisdiction and, as such, is operating unlawfully in respect to citizens of the several states of the union.”
“[I]f you are claiming that I, in my proper person, or in my activities am ‘subject to’ and/or ‘liable for’ any action and/or tax under any law that would be applicable to me in my proper person or as to my activities as a rightful citizen, I demand that I be presented with such law on which any such determination by you is based.”
He asks several questions of the court, such as liability statute in Tennessee that creates a duty upon him, “law or judicial determination that declares that I am a ‘resident’ of Tennessee, or that my lawful activities are ‘subject to’ any Tennessee statutes,” or any contract that would create an equitable or business relationship between him and the state of Tennessee.
‡ “The individual may stand upon his constitutional rights as a citizen. He is entitled to carry on his private business in his own way. His power to contract is unlimited. He owes no duty to the state or to his neighbors to divulge his business, or to open his doors to an investigation, so far as it may tend to criminate him. He owes no such duty to the state, since he receives nothing therefrom, beyond the protection of his life and property. His rights are such as existed by the law of the land long antecedent to the organization of the state, and can only be taken from him by due process of law, and in accordance with the Constitution. Among his rights are a refusal to incriminate himself, and the immunity of himself and his property from arrest or seizure except under a warrant of the law. He owes nothing to the public as long as he does not trespass upon their rights.” Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43
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David Tulis is live on the air weekdays 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on NoogaRadio 96.9 FM and other NoogaRadio Network stations, covering local economy and free markets in Chattanooga and beyond. Nothing here is legal advice; if you want legal advice, find a law firm downtown or on another planet — where the law actually matters.
