The attorneys for South Carolina death row inmates are about to be executed, and this is a final argument that their client is incompetently executed because he believes he is a sovereign citizen.
Steven Bixby and his father Arthur Bixby lead a 12-hour gunfight in law enforcement Abbeville, South CarolinaOn December 8, 2003, this resulted in the death of two policemen.
The deadlock exchanged thousands of rounds of ammunition between Bixbys and the police, due to an attempt by the South Carolina Department of Transportation to expand the highway by using easements on Bixby properties. Bixbys claims that the easement is fabricated or in any case does not matter.
The family, including Bixby’s mother Rita, is known for her sovereign citizenship.
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Charles Grose talks with his client Steven Bixby because the guilty sentence was read on Sunday, February 18, 2007 at the trial of Bixby. (AP Photo/Sefton iPock, Pool)
FBI tag sovereign citizen Since extremists and describe them as those who consider them sovereignty to the U.S. government, there is no need to answer the government authorities, including law enforcement, courts, tax entities, etc. At best, they are a loose group with similar beliefs, but most sovereign citizens act on their own without any central organization guiding them.
They are also known for filing lawsuits against government authorities, which are reflected by Rita Bixby, who filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against state entities.
After the stalemate, Steven Bixby was charged with two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy and sentenced to death in February 2007. Arthur and Rita Bixby were also charged with assault, and both were sentenced to life imprisonment.
After exhausted in 2010, Bixby’s days have been numbered. However, the country faces Fatal shortage of injection drugssuspend all executions indefinitely. A 2021 state law allows death penalty to be restored through a shooting squad or electric. After years of litigation, the state has enforced it The first death row prisoner in 13 yearsopen the door to Bixby’s execution.
Bixby will be executed in May last year until the judge postponed the execution date to determine whether he is mentally competent.
Now, his lawyers say he cannot be executed because he does not meet the state’s two-pronged test to announce execution capabilities.
The first pin echoes the only competency test of the U.S. Supreme Court: whether a person knows whether they are going to be executed and why.
South Carolina Supreme Court has a second phase, established in 1993 cases Singleton v. State: Whether a person can communicate reasonably with a lawyer. Bixby’s lawyer argued that he could not really understand that he was facing the death penalty because of his belief in sovereign citizenship and because of his immortal admiration and loyalty to his parents, and that he could not communicate reasonably with his lawyer.
Steven Bixby spoke with the media in a December 9, 2003 announcement, when law enforcement officers were watching law enforcement officers in Greenwood, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)
Michael Meltsner, Emeritus Professor of Law at Northeastern University, provided a comment in 2021 Darrell Brooks caseAnd talked to Fox News Digital about Bixby’s case. Brooks claimed to be a sovereign citizen and represented himself in court by chopping down innocent people and killing six people during a Christmas parade in Vauxa, Wisconsin. He was sentenced to six lives and 700 years in prison for his crime.
“Well, first of all, just because you have crazy beliefs, it doesn’t serve as a defense of crimes or executions under Supreme Court standards,” Melzner said. “The only way to do with a hearing is to be related to a legal standard of insanity, or a legal standard that is so severe that it cannot be enforced.”
But Meltzner said the South Carolina Supreme Court’s execution standards are broader than those set by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Of course, South Carolina can decide that the state has a higher standard than the Constitution,” he said. “The South Carolina court can decide, well, he can’t communicate with the attorney, so we won’t enforce him.”
South Carolina Supreme Court (Tracy Glantz/State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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As for whether Bixby’s sovereign citizenship would drive him crazy, and whether the argument would be raised in court, Meltsner didn’t know.
“Well, it’s the facts,” he said. “It could be a horrible disability, and this guy sounds crazy. It could be on the other end of the continuum, too. It could be malicious and manipulative. But, overall, you can argue in court anything damn thing you want. It depends on the court to decide what that means.”
Bixby still insists that he acts in self-defense and defense of his own property.
Fox News Digital contacts Bixby’s attorney.
Bixby standoff
Bixbys are long-time sovereign citizens, stemming from their lives in New Hampshire, Rita is the permanent litigant against the state, Arthur Arrested for ignoring the court’s orders More than three years after his verdict, $850 will be paid.
Steven Bixby left New Hampshire for South Carolina in the 1990s after he was arrested for driving without a license and meeting with parole officials. Shortly thereafter, his mother and father threatened foreclosure at home for not paying taxes.
The FBI defines “sovereign citizen” as an extremist. (Getty Image)
The land dispute in South Carolina began in the early 2000s when the state notified Bixbys’ property, which was announced by the state’s previous landowner, allowing the state to use 20 feet on the edge of the property to expand Highway 72 on Highway 72, if the state chose the state’s property.
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In 2003, the state began its expansion process, and land surveyors were marking the property to start work, creating tension between state authorities and Bixbys.
On the morning of December 8, 2003, the surveyor Call the police Threat him on Steven and Arthur Bixby.
Abbiville County Sheriff’s Sgt. Danny Wilson responded to the phone and was immediately shot by Bixby. He was dragged to Bixby’s home, bound in his handcuffs, and died in the subsequent 14-hour standoff.
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State Police Officer Donnie Ouzts responded after Wilson’s communications ceased. He was also immediately shot dead by Bixby on the front lawn of the property.
Steven and Arthur Bixby were finally arrested after a 14-hour gun battle with SWAT teams and law enforcement across the state.
