Posted on 04/05/2002 2:39:01 AM PST by toddst
Posted on Fri, Apr. 05, 2002 WANTED MILITIA LEADER SURRENDERS PUCKETT HAD FLED FROM HOUSE ARREST By Louise Taylor and Greg Kocher HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS
Charlie Puckett, the commander of the Kentucky State Militia, quietly turned himself in to authorities yesterday after three weeks on the lam and was promptly lodged in the Fayette County jail.
During a brief hearing in U.S. District Court, Puckett's attorney, Gatewood Galbraith, stipulated that his client had slipped out of an electronic monitor and "absconded" from house arrest on March 13.
"We don't want to insult this court's intelligence," Galbraith told Magistrate Judge James Todd.
Puckett vanished late March 13, perhaps inspired to flee because that same night a note was left on the door of his Garrard County home saying he "was going to be the target of an assassination attempt by federal agents," Galbraith said outside court.
"Agents provocateurs may have planted the note," Galbraith said, explaining that another militia group, Republic of Texas, has been trying to tell its Kentucky cousins how to operate and wanted to use Puckett's indictment on federal weapons charges to provoke a "confrontation."
Puckett has said that he is the commander of the Kentucky State Militia, a civilian paramilitary group that experts think is one of the most active in the country.
The February indictment charges Puckett with being a felon illegally owning guns, pipe bombs and almost 35,000 rounds of ammunition. A revised indictment later added a count saying Puckett intimidated a witness.
Puckett called the seizure of his guns and weapons a theft of private property and a violation of his rights. He argued that the 1968 federal gun control act prohibiting felons from owning guns does not apply to him because he was convicted of a felony two years before the law's enactment.
After Puckett vanished -- and Galbraith said yesterday he did not know where he went -- Galbraith suggested that Puckett may have been kidnapped. Galbraith said many "scoffed" at him over the kidnapping remark, but that he has known Puckett for almost a decade and that he is not the sort to flee. "Charlie is not a scofflaw. ... I knew something extraordinary had happened.
"His son told me that after Charlie got that letter (on his door), he acted differently.... That note fit the extraordinary aspect of it."
That son, Charles D. Puckett, had also been missing. But after he determined that no charges were pending against him he arranged for his father's surrender yesterday to Joe Walker, the Jessamine County sheriff. Walker could not be reached for comment yesterday, but Galbraith said Walker is a friend of Puckett and will testify on his behalf at trial. Puckett is to be arraigned Tuesday on the new indictment and a trial date will be set then.
Garrard County Sheriff Ronnie Wardrip, who knows Puckett, said he was pleased with yesterday's outcome.
"I'm just glad he turned himself in," Wardrip said. "I think he will fare better out of it."
Galbraith said he had spoken only briefly with Puckett since his surrender, but that he thought Puckett would leave the helm of the militia. "There's just too much politics in it," Galbraith said. "He wants to get back with his wife and work on cars."
Meanwhile, Puckett has a major court battle looming that Galbraith said he will win. One count against Puckett -- intimidating a witness -- was simply baffling, Galbraith added: "But if it's as flimsy as the government's other nine charges, bring it on."
Asked why Puckett hadn't simply sought police help after the assassination note, Galbraith said the government had not shown itself to be a friend of his client.
Said Galbraith: "Henry Kissinger used to say, 'It's OK to be paranoid because there is a they out there, and they are out to get you.'"
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reach Louise Taylor at (859) 231-3205, 1-800-950-6397 Ext. 3205 or ltaylor@herald-leader.com. Reach Greg Kocher in the Nicholasville bureau at (859) 885-5775 or gkocher1@herald-leader.com.
Reread the actual warrant and not the press report. It will merely say that he's been convicted of a crime that could be punished by more than one year in jail. The part about him being a felon is the newspaper reporter's mistake, same as the "pipe bomb" possession charge (it's actually "bomb preparation material").
He's a bit confused about the true meaning of 'Free', apparently.
If I really thought that (and given Puckett's problems with other folks in Kentucky, I sincerely doubt that he REALLY thought that--do a search on "Charlie Puckett" and "amateur radio"), I'd simply announce to the world that I wasn't intending to commit suicide, disappear, or violently resist arrest. That makes it politically impossible for the ATF to do anything like you describe.
According to the fedgov gasoline, bottles, rags and matches are bomb making materials. Possession of pipe, threaded pipe caps, gunpowder (for reloading) or loaded ammunition (source of gunpowder) constitutes possession of bomb making materials.
I'm guilty. Check your basement and garage...are you? Think about the charges they could pile on your local hardware/sporting goods store.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws."
-- Ayn Rand, (“Atlas Shrugged”)
"There is none more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free!"
-- Johann W. von Goethe
Regards
J.R.
No, they have to say he's been convicted of a crime that is punishable by more than one year in jail.
Don't believe me; look up the Gun Control Act of 1968 yourself. You will NOT find the word "felon" in that law.
...Which is what they are doing!
Actually, they aren't. You're confusing the "convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in jail" with "felon." In most states, those two terms are interchangeable, but not, apparently, in West Virginia (where Puckett acquired his criminal record).
At least I engage in reasoning, unlike some folks, Alex.
Re: the ex post facto issue you raised. What's your take on the constitutionality of a law that requires sexual predators to register with the local police, even if they were convicted prior to the law being passed?
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