State v Sullivan :: 143 Wn2d 162
Category: Barratry and Frivolous
Kelly Russell Sullivan has some strange ideas about status and legal process. He places a period and comma between his middle and last names. He claims UCC status and civil protection under statutes that were repealed in 1944. He believes traffic cops must complete a “public servant questionnaire” and that a traffic stop is a violation of his constitutional rights. In response to his traffic infraction he served a “Demand for Particulars” upon the officers and their supervisor and flooded them with additional papers. The papers contained case headings indicating the venue of the court and used the numbers of the citations as case numbers.
Nonetheless, the courts cleared him of the crime of barratry, which is bringing a false suit to court with the intent to harass a defendant. The fact is this case was already in court although Sullivan’s papers were outside the scope IRLJ (Infraction Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction) practice. Rather than intimidate the pro se litigant with a criminal suit, the State should have requested sanctions for his violations of court procedure.
Justice Talmadge wrote a concurring opinion but his arguments are worrisome. First): He wanted to use this opportunity to Legislate from the bench by more narrowly defining ‘judicial process.’ [At 188]; and Second): His purpose was to target pro se litigants whom he saw as deliberately disruptive to our justice system. [At 188]. Is the court powerless to defend itself? The only disruption that occurred in this case was created by the State pursuing the pro se on invalid criminal charges rather than asking for sanctions and penalties for abuse of legal process and violating court rules. To remedy further is to violate the rights of free men.
Rating the Usual Suspects:
| pass | Alexander, Gerry | |
| pass | Alexander, Stephen | |
| pass | Brandes, Ramona | |
| pass | Bridge, Bobbe | |
| pass | Guy, Richard | |
| pass | Haberly, M Karlynn | |
| pass | Ireland, Faith | |
| pass | Johnson, Charles | |
| pass | Madsen, Barbara | |
| pass | Sanders, Richard | |
| pass | Smith, Charles | |
| fail | Hauge, Russell D | |
| fail | Loginsky, Pamela | |
| fail | Sutton, Randall A | |
| fail | Talmadge, Phil |