‘Bullsh*t’: Former magistrate slams sovereign citizens

A former magistrate who heard the arguments of “hundreds” of sovereign citizens during his time says not one ever held up.

Former magistrate David Heilpern heard the arguments of “hundreds” of sovereign citizens during his time in the Australian court system – but not one ever held up.

Now Dean of Law at Southern Cross University, it’s his well-researched understanding that a sovereign citizen has never successfully proven why they are immune from the rule of law in an Australia court.

But that hasn’t stopped a significant number, even in recent days, from trying.

“I think it’s pretty sad, really, that people are so sucked into what is so blatantly and obviously, illogical, and nonlegal,” Professor Heilpern told news.com.au.

“As a magistrate, I dealt with literally hundreds of these people who would come to court and claim all sorts of bizarre rights apply to them.

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Professor David Heilpern, dean of law at Southern Cross University, saw his fair share of sovereign citizens during his time as a magistrate. Picture Glenn Hampson

“At the very heart of it is that they see themselves as somehow special, and that the laws that apply to everyone else, don’t apply to them, because they have this specialised legal knowledge that means that they don’t have to comply with the laws.

“And it’s utter complete garbage.”

According to the legal veteran, there is not a single reported decision of any Australian court that has upheld such claims.

News.com.au contacted Prof Heilpern in the wake of several recent sovereign citizen cases to gauge his thoughts on why the trend remains prominent despite such dismal court outcomes.

One recent example involved a woman who recorded an interaction with NSW police on a country road where she claimed she did not need a driver’s licence or number plate, as she was “going sovereign”.

Another South Australian man recently filmed himself refusing to provide police with his driver’s license at a traffic stop – police, in that instance, were forced to smash the driver’s window and drag him from the vehicle.

A 'sovereign citizen was recently dragged from his car after police smashed the window to get to him. Picture: YouTube

Judges don’t look kindly upon sovereign citizens

Professor Heilpern said such a mindset does little good for the sovereign citizens on their day in court.

He said there are cases when judges would show leniency, perhaps invoking Section 10, which allows a court to find one guilty of an offence but discharge the matter without recording a conviction.

“There are cases where, after hearing and feeling sorry for these poor, pathetic souls, the courts have said, “Look, you seem to have woken up, and now you’re not applying this moronic thing,” Prof Heilpern explained.

“If it’s a low level offence, we’ll give you a chance and not record a conviction. But that’s not a win. That’s a finding of guilt.”

A woman recently argued NSW road laws did not apply to her. Picture: Twitter

However, NSW Police did not share her views. Picture: Twitter

Though often, such behaviour provokes a harsher sentence.

“One of the things that magistrates take into account in sentencing is remorse. And a lot of these people are totally remorseless,” he continued.

“Often they will be sentenced far more harshly than someone who is rational and remorseful and vows to comply with the law in future.”

And people of the movement can be dangerous.

On the edge of extreme violence

Queensland cop killers Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train have been linked to the sovereign citizen movement through numerous online forums and YouTube videos.

Prof Heilpern said it wasn’t uncommon to hear such violent, anti-police rhetoric as theirs in court.

“(The Trains) are not the first violent criminals who appear to have found their motivation, or at least support in the sovereign citizen movement,” he said.

“I have seen a range of people, including people who threatened to kill police or to kill magistrates.

Queensland cop killers Stacey and Gareth Train were linked to the sovereign citizen movement. Photograph: YouTube

“Some of the sovereign citizen problem proponents are really on the edge of extreme violence.

“We saw that with the terrible killing of the police officers.”

In the case of the Trains, Deakin University terrorism expert Greg Barton told news.com.au that the Covid pandemic had been an “accelerant” for their dangerous conspiracies, including their obsession with personal sovereignty, that had already existed.

In the days after the December shooting, he said the pandemic had brought people with similar outlandish viewpoints together like never before.

Prof Barton said Australia was past the “tipping point”, with more than half of counter-terrorism measures now focused on battling far-right or conspiracy ideologies.

He added that threats were likely to manifest as “lone acts” which could nevertheless be “of a very large scale of devastation”.

“We have bollards everywhere, and we take care with public gatherings, but we’re still vulnerable from a policing point of view,” he said.

A self-fulfilling ‘cult’

Prof Heilpern did not mince his words, likening the movement to a “cult”.

“I would really describe it as a cult,” he said.

“People seem to get sucked into beliefs that no rational thinking person could hold, and it’s not that they’re stupid, or that they’re ill-educated.

Prof Heilpern say’s he has seldom talked a sovereign citizen out of their beliefs.

“They just seem to get sucked into the whole vision that they are special, that the laws don’t apply to them, and that there’s a sneaky way of avoiding things like registration and being licenced and having to vote and all of those other things.”

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that a minor, self-induced, unpleasant interaction with police or the courts could perpetuate anti-police or anti-government views.

“I think it’s self-fulfilling,” Prof Heilpern said.

“They seem to be, as a general rule, remorseless and stubborn, and they can’t have their mind changed. I mean, I’ve argued with them personally, and obviously in court regularly, where I would try to get them to see sense.

“In most cases, I was entirely unsuccessful.”

“First, they would come in for not having a licence, and that would lead to disqualification of their ability to drive, and then they’d come in for driving while disqualified, which is a far more serious offence.

“Then, once you get them there, the second or third time like that, well, you’ve run out of sentencing options. They’re clearly not going to comply – in the end, a lot of those people would go to jail.”

‘I know my rights’

Some of the arguments he has come across are bizarre.

“They say things like, “I am not the corporate person named” – they demand to see the authority of the judicial officer, the Australia Act, and the Magna Carta means that we’re not really magistrates,” Prof Heilpern said.

There are many contributing factors and even international influences that promote the sovereign citizen movement. picture John Grainger

“As I say, these arguments have never held any weight or succeeded in any court.”

As for a source of such beliefs, Prof Heilpern understands there are many.

How Aussies are led astray

In the case of the recent examples of Australians trying to escape their traffic infringements, Prof Heilpern alerted news.com.au to several websites, which won’t be named, which offer advice on avoiding fines or a day in court.

One charges an $87 fee for a booklet which claims to be able to get you out of a ticket or worse.

Another claims speeding fines, parking fines, red light camera fines, infringement notices, expiation notices, failure to vote fine, failure to register dog fines among a raft of others are “completely illegal” – offering constitutional advice on a range of issues.

“There are a number of websites where people pay for so called ‘defence kits’ that enable them to beat speeding, registration, all sorts of charges based on their sovereign citizen rights, or their pseudo-legal rights,” Prof Heilpern explains.

“Frankly, I’m surprised that the ACCC, law societies around the country haven’t really cracked down on those people because they’re purporting to provide legal advice to people, and they’re taking people’s money.

“It’s not them who are going to jail. It’s not them who are getting their windows smashed.

“They claim that there are all these decisions, all these cases that they have won.

“I’ve looked into every single one of those cases that they claim have resulted in victory.

“The lists of so called successes are all bullsh*t.”

The consumer watchdog says it does “not enforce the accuracy of the internet”.

It’s huge in America

Other sources include an international influence, particularly an American one, where Prof Heilpern said the movement is “huge”.

“In America, it’s definitely a right wing, southern, white movement. And in Australia, I think you could generally say the same,” he said.

Incidentally, it was revealed that cop killers Gareth and Stacey Train had been linked to a far-right fundamental Christian from Arizona known to them as Don, who holds extreme views of personal sovereignty.

Don, an American friend of cop killers Gareth and Stacey Train

Videos by Don, some of which mentioned Gareth and Stacey, detested social credit systems, the Covid-19 vaccine and the media, often sharing themes of a hatred towards police and government.

In an email to news.com.au, Don revealed Gareth and Stacey turned down an invitation to relocate to the US before they carried out a deadly ambush on Queensland Police officers.

“I asked the Trains to abandon the hell that Australia has become and relocate to America … they chose to weather the storm of tyranny inundating their homeland and to fight against it,” he wrote.

Originally published as ‘Bullsh*t’: Former magistrate slams sovereign citizens