Common-Law Group Threatens To Arrest Officials Idaho Sovereignty Tells Magistrate, County Workers To Retake Oath Of Office

A leader of Idaho’s common-law movement says supporters plan to arrest an Ada County magistrate and possibly hundreds of county officials across the state.

Gary DeMott, a leader in a Boise-based group called Idaho Sovereignty, claims Magistrate Patricia Flanagan is guilty of “stealing constitutional rights.”

Authorities have warned Flanagan about the group’s plans to arrest her. State police are investigating Idaho Sovereignty and coordinating an effort to protect Flanagan, if necessary. Authorities would not provide details of the investigation.

Anyone who attempts to arrest Flanagan or county officials could face felony kidnapping charges, said Lawrence Wasden, the state attorney general’s deputy chief of staff.

“It only takes one of them to do something really, really stupid for them to be dangerous,” Wasden said Tuesday.

DeMott said county officials including commissioners, clerks, sheriffs, treasurers, assessors and coroners also might be arrested if they do not retake their oaths of office.

He and his group mailed 391 notices to the officials, saying their oaths did not include the words “so help me God.” DeMott believes those words are essential to make county officials subject to perjury charges if they break their oaths.

Wasden laughed as he read copies of the notices, calling them “hilarious.”

“The basis of his so-called charge of grand theft is absurd and his group is without any authority to issue such documents anyway,” Wasden said.

DeMott, a former campaign organizer for Ross Perot, is a leader in the “Courts of Justice” movement, which is active in Idaho and at least a dozen other states. He believes constitutional rights are property, valued at $100,000 each. As property, DeMott said, rights can be stolen.

He alleges that Flanagan stole the constitutional right of due process from Shirley Minton, a 67-year-old widow suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Ada County officials assigned a guardian to take care of Minton and her estate, despite protests from her family. Flanagan is presiding over that case.

“I could dismiss the case right now if I wanted to pacify them, but I’m not going to do that,” Flanagan said. “If they kill me, I guess someone else would step in.”

DeMott said the plans do not include violence.

Instead, he said, those who received notices will have 10 days to take new oaths of office. On Sept. 28, “town criers” will read the names of those who have not complied from the steps of every county courthouse in Idaho.

Next, DeMott said, supporters of Idaho Sovereignty will make citizen’s arrests with the help of county sheriff’s deputies. And if the deputies refuse to help, he said, “I’ll arrest the sheriff.”