Judge Hazel Wipes the Slate Clean in Convicted Terrorist Brett Kimberlin’s RICO Suit

And: “I Get Results! (Not really!)”

This is the latest post in what I half-jokingly call The Kimberlin Saga^®.  If you are new to the story, that’s okay! Not everyone reads my blog.  The short version is that Kimberlin has been harassing me for over two years, his worst conduct being when he attempted to frame me for a crime.   I recognize that this might sound like an incredible claim, but I provide video and documentary evidence of that fact; in other words, you don’t have to believe my word.  You only have to believe your eyes.  And more recently when his wife came to us claiming that this convicted terrorist had threatened her harm, we tried to help her leave her, and for that, he is suing myself, John Hoge, Robert Stacy McCain and Ali Akbar for helping his wife and he is suing Hoge, McCain, Akbar, DB Capital Strategies, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck, James O’Keefe III, Patrick “Patterico” Frey, Mandy Nagy, Lee Stranahan, Erick Erickson, Breitbart.com, the Blaze, Mercury Radio Arts, Red State, the National Bloggers Club, and  Simon and Shuster alleging that we are all in organized crime for reporting factually about the spate of SWATtings committed against myself, Frey and Erickson.  So, if you are new to the story, go to this page and you’ll be able to catch up on what has been happening.

Update: I had to fix a bad embed of a letter.  Fixed now!

Well, Murphy’s law can be a real bastard at times, can’t it?  I was all ready to post on today’s events, when we had a game changer.  So I will try to adapt what I said to the news.

I have been on blogging hiatus for a while.  The principle is, after all, “case(s) first, and blog second” and I have been pretty busy behind the scenes in those twin lawsuits against me.  As mentioned in my standard blurb in the last paragraph, we have two suits going on: 1) a Maryland state case where he is claiming that I, John Hoge, Stacy McCain, Ali Akbar and whoever KimberlinUnmasked is, mostly centering around his sexual abuse of his wife, discussed here, and 2) a federal case claiming that a long list of defendants are engaged in organized crime to call him a SWATter.

To update you some, there is going to be a hearing on July 1 in the state case regarding several motions for summary judgment and a related motion to dismiss for failure to comply with discovery.  My attorney has asked me not to share very much about that for fear of educating the midget...

He is looking buff...

...so I won’t.  I will simply say that legally we should prevail and if the judge follows the law, the entire case will be thrown out.  But then again, if the law was followed, we wouldn’t have gotten this far, so we’ll see how it goes.

Oh, and none of that tells you about the Copyright case that John has filed against Bill Schmalfeldt (a.k.a. “Baghdad Blob”).  You can read several of the documents he filed recently in this case, here.  In the name of brevity I won’t discuss that in detail, but basically John has alleged that the Blob has been ripping off his copyrighted work and that of another blogger, and there will be a hearing for a preliminary injunction to stop that this coming Thursday.  And I don’t think I have updated you about the case Schmalfeldt filed against ten bloggers or internet commenters and then dropped literally two days later.

But it’s in the RICO case that we got the big news.

First, to set things up, a couple of weeks ago we learned we had a new judge: the honorable George Hazel.  (I have no idea why Grimm stepped out and I won’t speculate.)  Hazel is a former prosecutor and church deacon, so he sounds like exactly the kind of judge who won’t have very much tolerance for a criminal scumbag like Brett Kimberlin.  If Hazel was the originally assigned judge I would have felt pretty good about that, but how can I say this?  I believe we were already close to a favorable resolution, frankly a complete dismissal of the suit, with Judge Grimm.  And I feel that the law was very clearly on our side with this one, so I believe that Hazel will do the same, eventually.  But I try to put myself into Hazel’s shoes and I asked myself, “if I was Judge Hazel taking over a new case what would I do?”  Well, the obvious answer to me is: “I would read every single filing in this case to date.”

Folks, as of today there have been about 130 documents filed in this case.  With exhibits, they are often more than 100 pages.  And yes, I am responsible for a few of those very lengthy filings.  So my immediate thought is that if he is doing what I would be doing—reading over the whole file—it might take a while, especially as we probably are not the only case before him.

So my thought was that this would put off the outcome I was hoping for: the case being dismissed.  But you will see that analysis also explains pretty easily the big news of the day.

To provide a little more background, here is where we were as of this morning, since I haven’t talked about the case very much.  There were four major motions outstanding.

First, there are the motions to dismiss Brett’s First Amended Complaint (“FAC” as us lawyers call them) filed by myself, John, DB Capital Strategies, The Franklin Center, James O’Keefe III and Simon and Schuster, Erick Erickson and Redstate, Stacy McCain (a short filing that simply said, more or less, “what they said”), Michelle Malkin and Twitchy, and...  geez, I think I am forgetting one or two, but you get the idea: the vast majority of those who have been served, have filed a motion to dismiss.

Second, Brett has sought discovery aimed at learning Ace of Spades’s true identity and with the help of one of Brett’s former attorneys, Paul Allen Levy, Ace has opposed it.  (Brett was very, very angry at Mr. Levy for this supposed betrayal.  I think Levy would say that his client is the First Amendment, not a specific person.)

Third, figuring out that his FAC sucks, Brett moved to amend the complaint with a proposed Second Amended Complaint that turned the crazy up to 11.  I made a Downfall Parody mocking it, here:

And we have opposed that amendment, and I felt we had a shot at blocking it, though the rules and their interpretation tended to favor amendment.

And, in addition to all that fun, we have a motion for sanctions from Twitchy because Brett forged a summons.  So there is that, too.

Which sets up the big news of the day: Brett has been allowed to amend the complaint.  So the idiotic thing that even Hitler thought was crap is now what we have to deal with.  This is the order:

   ECF 133 Order Granting Leave to Amend

And I think the “Occam’s razor” explanation for it is pretty obvious.  I think Judge Hazel looked at this mess of a docket and decided that the best way to move forward was to proverbially wipe the slate clean.  There’s a couple telling phrases that suggest this, but if I explain how it does, it might suggest what my motion to dismiss will look like.  And as I said, case first, blog second, so you will just have to wait on that.  But in the end I have a great deal of sympathy for Judge Hazel getting thrown into the middle of this.  RICO cases are ordinarily complicated: ones with over twenty co-defendants only more so.  And when you add a cray-cray pro-se plaintiff spinning paranoid fantasies in the complaint, well... you end up with over 130 docket entries, a Case Management Order and a mess that is likely to leave any new judge scratching his head.  I am not going to enjoy all this extra work, but I can totally see where Judge Hazel is coming from on this.

And there is something else to note.  Judge Hazel has already made it clear that this is Brett’s last chance, writing: “Plaintiff should also be reminded that no further amendment will be permitted.”  If Hazel had not at least allowed this amendment, then Brett would probably appeal claiming that his amendment was just awesome, but the mean judge wouldn’t allow it in.  Of course right about when the court of appeals read through the part where he seems to suggest there is some kind of NSA/CIA/Team Themis conspiracy against him they would be likely to figure out that the amendment wouldn’t have helped him any, but why not make the victory decisive and substantive, rather than on anything that might sound technical?

So maybe more work now will garnish a victory that Brett can accept.  And yes, the midget can learn.  For instance, he hasn’t filed any peace orders against us for a while and he seems to have figured out that filing criminal charges is a waste of time.  Perhaps when his twin lawsuits finally fail, he will realize that this game isn’t getting him anywhere, either.  I doubt he will start to live an honest life, but at least he might stop bothering those who tell the truth about him.

So to review the scorecard, we have the motions to dismiss mooted but we can refile.  The issue of discovery of Ace’s identity is still hanging in the air.  But, importantly, the Twitchy motion for sanctions appears to still be in play and even if it was technically dismissed as mooted, the judge gave them specific permission to raise the issue again.  The judge very specifically said that this was not with prejudice.

And this is not the only news, but it is the major headline.  But let’s talk about the other happenings.

So let’s rewind a little.  Before today, we were waiting for any kind of a sign regarding how Judge Hazel would treat the matter, and lord knows, no one wanted to risk making a poor first impression with him.

Well, except Brett Kimberlin doesn’t know when to shut up.  Last Friday he sent two letters to the court and you can read them for yourself, here:

   Kimberlin's Letters of the Court of 6.19.14

The only alteration is that I have literally cut off the page after his name so his home address and phone number doesn’t show up.  I do feel that the residents of Bethesda, Maryland need to be warned of his presence so they are aware of the danger he poses to his community.  After all we have codified into law the policy that the community should be warned about convicted sex offenders among them (such as Kimberlin’s friend Craig Gillette), and this is similar in principle even if there is no conviction (and reportedly, his neighbors are starting to be aware).  But they don’t need to know his street address and home phone.

The first letter is simply a request for even more time to serve the unserved Defendants.  Mind you, he filed suit in October of last year and he still hasn’t done this simple thing.

The second letter was telling the court about this really awesome case he just found.  You can read the case for yourself, here, and if you are struggling to see how it has any relevance to the allegations in this case, you are not alone.

It can be cited for the proposition that where speech is essential to committing a crime, it is not protected.  Like let me give you an example...

Suppose hypothetically you were a drug dealer in Indiana who was regularly having sex with an underage girl.  Admittedly, you would have to be imagining yourself as a seriously socipathic person, but just play along, okay?  Let’s call that little girl “Jessica.”  Let us further suppose that her mother (shockingly) was okay with this situation, but her grandmother—let’s call her “Julia”—objected vehemently to this pedophilic relationship.  So you call up your friend—let’s call him “Will”—and say, “could you do me a solid and kill Julia for me?  I’ll pay you good money.”  And let us further suppose that Will takes the money and kills Julia on your request.

Well, folks in that hypothetical situation, that is murder for hire.  And it is no defense to murder for hire to say that the words “could you do me a solid and whack Julia for me?  I’ll pay you good money” is protected under the First Amendment.  Typically courts treat that kind of thing as a “verbal act” (the same applies to lawful contracts—the words forming the contract is considered a “verbal act” and thus treated differently than ordinary speech).  It is a verbal act to form a contract, whether it is for a legal thing (a car, for example) or an illegal thing (killing a woman to protect your creepy relationship).  And you can be penalized, even punished criminally, for it.

So this is not a novel proposition and indeed one that has not even been disputed by any of the Defendants, Kimberlin’s straw man notwithstanding.  None of the Defendants are saying that if he properly alleged criminal conduct that the speech comprising that criminal conduct would be protected speech.  We are saying that he hasn’t made any proper allegation that we have done that (and of course we haven’t actually done that, either, but at this stage the evidence is generally less important than what the Montgomery County Midget says about it, as annoying as that is).

Next up, yesterday I filed two letters of my own.  The first is this one and I think mostly it speaks for itself:

   Letter to Hazel (Redacted)

The gist of the whole thing is that 1) the two letters from Brett were improper and should be stricken and 2) answering them on the merits in case the court considers them.  It is worth noting that I addressed two letters in the space normally given to addressing one, so the judge might notice and appreciate my economy.

I am similarly economical in this next letter making two requests to file things on my own behalf.  You will notice that unlike Brett who just asked for the relief, I asked for permission to ask like we were supposed to under the Case Management Order.  You can read it in whole here:

  Letter to Hazel02 (Redacted)

The only difference between what I filed and what you are seeing here is 1) I signed the actual document, 2) I redacted my personal information from this version, 3) I included a certificate of service, and 4) Word updated the date.  Otherwise they are exactly as is, including if there is any typos I haven’t found, yet.  I think they mostly speak for themselves but I will highlight something.

As regular readers know, Brett was caught forging a summons for Twitchy as I mentioned above, the court is still figuring out whether to sanction him for this conduct and how much to do so.  Brett even admitted to doing so.  What I don’t believe we have revealed before is that in the state case Brett has denied forging the summons and even denied admitting that he had forged the summons.  Specifically he answered these requests for admission as follows (his responses underlined):

20.       That you have a concurrent lawsuit against Mr. Hoge in Federal Court. Admit

21.       That you have been caught altering a Court Document in that Federal Case. Deny

22.       That you admitted to Judge Grimm that you did alter a Court Document. Deny

You can’t make this stuff up if you tried.  If this was a screenplay the director would tell the writer it is not plausible that anyone would tell such a stupid lie.

I also shared the news that National Bloggers Club has officially received § 501(c)(3) status.  Brett had claimed it was fraud to say that they were creating a public charity or that its status was pending.  Now the court can recognize as a matter of law that any statements with respect to that is true and I moved to file a supplement to my filings that would allow the court to consider this fact.

And we are not quite done with news.  As my joking sub-headline declared, I get results!  Except, as we will see, not really.  Before the big order, we also had news that Judge Hazel had stricken both documents, and had them returned to Brett for exactly the same reason I urged: because Brett didn’t obey the Case Management Order.  I won’t be uploading the order removing it it because there is so little to the entry that it isn’t worth the trouble to redact it, but here’s a screencap of the relevant part (enbiggen as necessary).

So right out of the gate Brett has beclowned himself in front of the judge.  But I was left wondering, “did I do that?”  Well, the answer appears to be no.  There is yet another docket entry that was entered today, styled a “Order on Motion to Strike.”  There is no document: it apparently is just an order given to the clerk.  This is what it says in its entirety:

Full docket text for document 134:

PAPERLESS ORDER denying AS MOOT [131] Motion to Strike. Signed by Judge George Jarrod Hazel on 6/24/14. (am2s, Chambers)

Moot, of course, means that it’s been rendered irrelevant by events.  So it can translate pretty reasonably to: “I already figured out it should be stricken Mr. Walker, so we can forget you filed it.”  So, oh well, an hour of work down the drain, but on the other hand to the extent that he even looked at it, he saw me sensibly urging the court to do what it did, which should make me look good and reasonable.

And as for my other letter, it has been addressed by the order granting leave to amend.  And while I play my cards pretty close to the vest, I think it’s pretty obvious that these facts are likely to find their way into a new motion to dismiss.

Still, as first impressions go, I think it is fair to say that Brett made himself look bad and hopefully I made myself look good.  But we shall see.

That all being said, I am probably going to be blogging very lightly in the near future.  Case first, blog second.  Hopefully it won’t take me as long to write a new motion to dismiss, but this was already going to be a busy time.  Any support and prayers are appreciated.

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My wife and I have lost our jobs due to the harassment of convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin, including an attempt to get us killed and to frame me for a crime carrying a sentence of up to ten years.  I know that claim sounds fantastic, but if you read starting here, you will see absolute proof of these claims using documentary and video evidence.  If you would like to help in the fight to hold Mr. Kimberlin accountable, please hit the donation link on the right.  And thank you.

Follow me at Twitter @aaronworthing, mostly for snark and site updates.  And you can purchase my book (or borrow it for free if you have Amazon Prime), Archangel: A Novel of Alternate, Recent History here.  And you can read a little more about my novel, here.

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Disclaimer:

I have accused some people, particularly Brett Kimberlin, of reprehensible conduct.  In some cases, the conduct is even criminal.  In all cases, the only justice I want is through the appropriate legal process—such as the criminal justice system.  I do not want to see vigilante violence against any person or any threat of such violence.  This kind of conduct is not only morally wrong, but it is counter-productive.

In the particular case of Brett Kimberlin, I do not want you to even contact him.  Do not call him.  Do not write him a letter.  Do not write him an email.  Do not text-message him.  Do not engage in any kind of directed communication.  I say this in part because under Maryland law, that can quickly become harassment and I don’t want that to happen to him.

And for that matter, don’t go on his property.  Don’t sneak around and try to photograph him.  Frankly try not to even be within his field of vision.  Your behavior could quickly cross the line into harassment in that way too (not to mention trespass and other concerns).

And do not contact his organizations, either.  And most of all, leave his family alone.

The only exception to all that is that if you are reporting on this, there is of course nothing wrong with contacting him for things like his official response to any stories you might report.  And even then if he tells you to stop contacting him, obey that request.  That this is a key element in making out a harassment claim under Maryland law—that a person asks you to stop and you refuse.

And let me say something else.  In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe that any person supporting me has done any of the above.  But if any of you have, stop it, and if you haven’t don’t start.