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.
I'm saying we haven't seen everything yet - at least in terms of what the ATF charges actually are. Let's see where it goes. Are they going to trial on charges or do they negotiate something? Now we'll find out.
Thanks for the information.
I suspect the ATF will CLAIM more than we have seen. If not, they will try to negotiate a plea to lesser charges. They have nothing, IMHO. Now we'll see because the ATF has to fish or cut bait with what they have.
Let me guess. His television receives radio waves from satellites and it told him this.
Nothing scarier than a well-armed nut. I lived down the road from one and one day, he just started shooting. He eventually walked out of the woods and started shooting at some deputies and they took him out. His mother blamed the deputies for not "trying to wound him". And he swore he was going to be assassinated by the FBI.
Something to watch for. However, in the larger picture Charlie Puckett is a little fish. I believe the ATF now has a problem. They overstepped their bounds in this case and behaved as though Charlie might (they hoped) "resist arrest." A dead Charlie, shot under such conditions, would have been the ATF's best scenario. Now they have to go to court with phoney charges. More blundering.
It's time to do away with this rogue agency, IMHO.
OK, there are some scary "nuts" out there. However, what I'm much more concerned about is a well-armed ATF with a license to attack "scary well-armed nuts." Your thoughts on this point?
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