More on those crazy Browns

It gets better. I couldn't make this sort of crap up.

From the Concord Monitor:

The couple formerly known as Ed and Elaine Brown are not judges and do not have the authority to dismiss their own criminal case, according to Judge Steven McAuliffe, who oversaw their trial and will decide their sentences later this month.

The Browns, of Plainfield, recently ordered the clerk to close their case, citing themselves as "the court" and "judge." They signed their filings using the names they have recently adopted: Edward, a Living Soul in the Body of the Lord, of the House of Israel, and Elaine, a Living Soul in the Body of the Lord, of the House of Israel.


McAuliffe has not yet ruled on the Browns' request for free copies of their trial transcript, but the government has objected to the couple's claims they are indigent, pointing to Ed Brown's statements to the Monitor, among other evidence, to assert that the couple has assets that they did not include in financial affidavits filed with the court.

In Elaine Brown's request for free transcripts, she said that her income was limited to her Social Security checks. An attached financial affidavit said she had only $3,000 cash on hand, according to the government's objection. The Browns wrote, in documents addressed to the "sham court" that they wanted the transcripts "for the purpose of trying to understand the legitimacy/jurisdiction of the fiction's actions."

In another document filed this week, Elaine Brown fired the federal public defender who was acting as her standby counsel.

The Browns have been convicted of conspiring to defraud the federal government, conspiring to disguise large financial transactions and disguising financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements. Elaine Brown, whose Lebanon dental practice generated the couple's income, was also convicted of multiple counts of tax evasion and failing to withhold employment taxes.

The Browns contend that the federal government has no jurisdiction over them and that there is no law compelling ordinary Americans to pay federal income taxes.

The Browns changed their names in late March after converting to a non denominational form of Christianity they learned from a man named Sonny. According to friends of the Browns, Sonny, who wears a long beard, all-white attire and sandals, flew from Hawaii to New Hampshire to visit the Browns and shared his religious and legal teachings over several days. The couple has spoken extensively about their new religious beliefs, and their bearing on the case, in internet radio interviews.

In a phone interview last week, Ed Brown refused to answer detailed questions about his new name or beliefs, but he anticipated that the court would not understand his filings.

"You couldn't possibly understand it," he said. "The court barely knows what it is."

What squirrels. And what's even crazier is that there are actually other people out there who think that they're heroes. Maybe we should take another look at who we let buy and own guns, vote and/or raise kids in this country.