Posted on 08/07/2003 3:36:42 PM PDT by TomB
Ravenna - A woman who was arrested after she was seen breast-feeding while driving on the Ohio Turnpike in May is preparing for trial here Wednesday.
Catherine Nicole Donkers - who speaks publicly only after getting permission to do so from the man she calls her husband - said in a phone interview last week she should not have been arrested.
"How can you prosecute someone for violating a law that doesn't exist?" Donkers said. "There is no law that has been violated."
Donkers supports her argument with a mix of legal interpretations and a deep skepticism of government. She questions whether the state has the right to make individuals meet seemingly basic requirements such as obtaining driver's licenses and marriage certificates.
She faces jail and fines for five misdemeanors, including not having her infant daughter in a child-restraint system, not having a valid operator's license, child endangering, failing to comply with a police officer's request and obstructing official business.
Victor Vigluicci, Portage County prosecutor, said he offered to drop all charges except the child-restraint count, which would have resulted in a $100 fine. Donkers and Brad Lee Barnhill refused that offer.
They belong to the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty, which was founded in the 1990s. The organization pledges allegiance to Jesus Christ and at times takes a dim view of the federal government, referring to Social Security numbers as the "mark of the beast."
Paying income tax is called "Satan's tithing," according to a Web site that offers an application to join the group.
The couple's suspicious view of government becomes apparent when they discuss any type of official record-keeping. Donkers is said to be 29 and Barnhill 46, but both say birth dates are "hearsay" that cannot be proven.
"You don't know that the woman who gave birth to you is really the woman you know as your mother," Barnhill told a reporter.
In court filings, Barnhill refers to "legal fiction known as the state of Ohio." They say that they do not have Social Security numbers and that - while they say they are husband and wife - they do not have a marriage license.
"I'm not required to get permission from the government to marry," Donkers said.
Barnhill indicated they also do not like being made to obtain driver's licenses.
"Just like we don't need permission to get married, why should I need permission from the state to use my property on the road?" Barnhill said.
But it was being on a road that led to the couple's legal woes.
Vigluicci said the State Highway Patrol got a call from a trucker who saw Donkers breast-feeding while westbound along the turnpike near Streetsboro on May 8.
Donkers refused to pull over when a police cruiser pulled up, flashed lights and wailed its siren. She continued to drive for three miles before exiting the turnpike, Vigluicci said. She had no driver's license; instead, she produced a homemade identification card for police, he said.
Donkers said she is suspicious of police.
"I'm not convinced that these people are out to protect me, so I have to protect myself," she said. "I don't know who he is, and he doesn't know who I am."
She said she was breast-feeding while driving but declined to answer when asked if that is safe. The issue, she said, is whether she has been charged improperly.
Barnhill said Donkers was a resident of Michigan when she was arrested.
Michigan, like Ohio, requires children under age 4 to be in a child-restraint system while traveling in an auto. But Michigan excludes children who are being nursed.
Thus Donkers was stopped improperly, making all of the charges irrelevant, Barnhill said.
"We can understand that they haven't been properly trained," he said of the state troopers.
He said he would be willing to serve as a consultant to better educate troopers about the law.
A public defender, lawyer John Laczko, has been assigned to represent Donkers. Laczko declined to comment last week.
The couple, now living in California, is scheduled to meet with the lawyer today.
Will Barnhill permit Donkers to be represented by Laczko at trial?
The couple will let Laczko take the case, Barnhill said, "if the public defender can assure us that he will carry the Bible into court and enforce it as law."
But she was residing in Pennsylvania with her husband.
BTW, this woman's husband came on FR a few months ago defending her actions, and he makes her sound sane.
Gee, I hope Brad comes back.
God, what a fun thread.
I miss all the fun.....
I'll just bet he did. What's he gonna say..."Why me?"
Good point! I bet Jim is tracking him right now in the official Free Republic Black Helicopter.
Here is my favorite quote:
"You don't know that the woman who gave birth to you is really the woman you know as your mother," Barnhill told a reporter.
I think it's safe to say the old Brad has a "thing" about "womenfolk".
Here's another quote:
"Just like we don't need permission to get married, why should I need permission from the state to use my property on the road?" Barnhill said.
On whose road, Brad?
Woman says husband directed her to nurse baby while driving
By M.R. KROPKO
The Associated Press
8/7/03 6:37 PM
RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) -- A woman on trial for breast-feeding her baby while driving on the Ohio Turnpike testified Thursday that she nursed behind the wheel because her husband told her to do it.
Catherine Nicole Donkers, 29, said she had stopped earlier on May 8 at a highway rest stop and fed cereal to her 7-month-old daughter. Donkers said she realized the baby was still hungry after she got back on the road, headed to Michigan from Pennsylvania.
"I called my husband, and he directed me to continue on, to drive to Michigan and nurse my child in the car. We did not feel we were breaking any law," Donkers said. "I had the cruise control on at 65 mph."
Donkers, who is representing herself on several misdemeanor charges, called herself to the witness stand and talked Thursday afternoon for more than an hour in Portage County Municipal Court.
Breast-feeding while driving "certainly isn't a primary choice as a form of feeding my child," she said. "I certainly had no intent to harm my child. I never would."
Closing arguments were scheduled for Friday.
Prosecutor Sean Scahill asked Donkers if she had to use her hands to move the baby while the car was moving. At first, she said no but then said she moved the child from one side to another.
"I used both hands. For a very short time I did. It took me approximately all of a quarter of a second," she said.
Brad Lee Barnhill has said he told his wife to nurse while driving to save time.
"I directed you to do what I thought was in your best interest," Barnhill told Donkers when he testified earlier Thursday.
On Wednesday, Barnhill was denied his request to stand in for his wife at the trial. The couple belongs to a religious group they say requires Barnhill to be responsible for punishing Donkers.
Barnhill, 46, said he and Donkers were in constant communication as she drove. She was stopped after a trucker called 911 to report he had seen a woman driver holding a baby on her lap.
Donkers refused to pull over for three miles as a state trooper pursued her. When she eventually stopped at a Streetsboro toll booth, troopers said she refused to cooperate until she called her husband for permission.
The couple says Donkers did not stop immediately because she didn't realize right away she was being followed and she wanted to stop at a public place because she had been assaulted by police before.
State Highway Patrol Sgt. Michael A. Harmon testified that Donkers handed over what appeared to be a homemade Pennsylvania identification card instead of a driver's license.
Donkers -- a member of an obscure religious sect that maintains that driver's licenses should not be required -- described the card as an affidavit, Harmon said.
The couple -- who lack a marriage license but claim to be married -- belong to the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty, which has a history of challenging state laws.
The organization, which pledges allegiance to Jesus Christ, was founded in Henderson, Nev., in the 1990s. Barnhill says he is a minister in the fellowship with 650 followers.
Donkers is charged with misdemeanor counts of child endangering, driving without a license, failure to use child restraint equipment and operating a vehicle while willfully alluding or fleeing police.
A conviction for misdemeanor child endangering carries maximum penalties of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Barnhill said the couple was living temporarily in Pittsburgh for work, but Donkers was a resident of Livonia, Mich., when arrested. Child restraint laws in Michigan exempt nursing babies, which the couple says should clear Donkers.
Barnhill told the judge he recently took a job in Los Angeles with a company that pays him 25 ounces of gold per month, which he estimated to be worth $8,500 to $9,000.
Barnhill told the judge he recently took a job in Los Angeles with a company that pays him 25 ounces of gold per month, which he estimated to be worth $8,500 to $9,000.
Would that be Mexican or Hawaiian Gold?
Yeah, ha.
I was raised out in the sticks and around relatives that swore the state of Texas didn’t have the authority to require license plates, driver licenses, registered vehicles … a bunch of things.
It’s sort of fun if you’re young and live like a hobo and have nothing better to do. It all turns out to be BS though.
They can require you to have a driver license. You cannot make your own license plate. They can detain you for failure to identify.
They can give you a citation requiring you to pay a fine or appear in court. If you do not appear in court they can issue a warrant for failure to appear in court. They typically don’t come after you for just one, but eventually they will arrest you and hold you until you do appear in court.
Claiming to be a sovereign citizen of the Republic of Texas doesn’t buy you any leeway.
I didn’t have anything better to do at the time but I did learn to recognize stupid people when they start their s---house lawyering. I can spot them a mile away now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.