Leading Up to Arraignment Day

There is so much to tell, so many emotions to convey, so much horror that it keeps me from writing because I just don't know what to write first. So I'll pop back to what I wrote three years ago which was leading up to a horrible, horrible day.

August 2018

Mike Gibson (Tom's lawyer) had arranged with "whoever" for us to self-surrender and the date was set for August 7, 2018.  What happened leading up to this is important.  Mike wanted to make it as uneventful and easy as it could be, so he arranged for us to have our pretrial interview the week prior to arraignment. 

The pretrial interview was for the purpose of deciding if there should be a bail requirement, if we're a flight risk, and what kind of restrictions should be placed on us (travel restrictions, etc.)  The interviews were done by phone in Gibson's office.  I should mention that there was discussion amongst the lawyers about the questions that might be asked and if they would be considered "inextricably linked" to the case and probably shouldn't be answered (maybe "take the 5th") because whatever we say in those interviews will be seen by the prosecution and could be used against us. 

When Tom asked Mike about it, he talked to Kimmens (the Dallas prosecutor), and Kimmens to Fahey (prosecutor who Kimmens reports to).  We were told that Fahey said if we don't answer every question, he will seek to have us immediately put in jail.  So, there flew our 5th amendment rights out the window. Yeah, you have a right not to answer, but they have the power to take away your freedom if you don't.

We were told that some of the standard restrictions were that we would have to surrender our passports, which we did to Gibson the day of the pretrial hearings.  He would later turn them over to the court.   Freedom to travel...out the window.  Also, that we would not be able to keep our guns.  It's not like we have an arsenal, but we did own some guns for our own protection and for protecting the livestock if need be.  So, before the interviews, Tom packed up the guns and rifles and put them in safe keeping with a lawyer/friend.  Right to bear arms and protect ourselves...doesn't exist when you've been accused of a crime by the government.

Oh, did you think that in the United States of America, you were innocent until proven guilty?  Ho, ho, you are so naive.  There is no presumed innocence in our "justice" system, as you'll see in what's to come now and on arraignment day.

So, we did our interviews.  They were relatively painless - just simple questions about our address, our employment, our family members, etc.  I didn't have a problem answering them.  But, what was ironic was that the interviewer (a very nice guy, BTW) read a statement to me before we began.  A bunch of blah, blah, blah that I don't remember, but I do clearly remember that part of it said, "I understand that I do not have to answer any of these questions".  Oh yeah?  That's a laugh.  No, you don't have to answer the questions.  Instead, you can go to jail.  Tell me, did I have the right to not answer those questions under threat? 

So, we're all set for arraignment.  Gibson tells us it'll be pretty quick, we should be out of there in just a few hours, just go get processed (mug shots, fingerprints), then appear before the judge and the prosecutor had agreed to have us released on our own recognizance.  Sounds pretty simple. Boy, was I wrong.

We still didn't have any notification of the time we were supposed to be in court, so when Tom had his interview (with a separate interviewer), Gibson asked her if she knew what time it was going to be.  I wasn't there and didn't hear, but something about what she said tipped Gibson off about what the IRS agent might have planned.  And, that was, that we would have to surrender to her in the morning, then she would make us sit in the marshal's office all day and have us taken to the court in handcuffs.

So, there was a new fear that I had to worry about over the weekend.  Gibson said he'd try to get it sorted and that he wasn't going to let that happen and that, if nothing else, we would just come early and sit in his office until 45 minutes before court, then he'd take us over there.  That is not what happened, as I will tell you in the next post.

Since I was afraid about the handcuffs, on Monday, the 6th, I texted my lifelong friend who has worked in the federal courts for about 30 years and asked her.  She said, no way, they won't take you in cuffs because you are already scheduled to self surrender and there are no warrants issued for your arrest.  I said, "What if the IRS agent does it just because she can?"  She said, "the judge won't put up with that nonsense".  She has not had her Sydney Powell moment yet.

So, let's review:  As of Monday, Aug. 6th, we were scheduled to self surrender on the 7th, there were no warrants out for our arrest, the prosecutor had agreed that he wouldn't ask for bail requirements or remand and that he was fine with us being released on our own recognizance.  Remember, the IRS has been investigating us for years and years.  They already know what our lives are like and that we have never been in trouble with the law, we're going to show up to court when told to, that we are honorable people and not violent.  I mean, if they thought anything other than that, they would not have agreed to letting us go after arraignment.  Right?  I mean, am I missing something here?

Up next, arraignment day.