This case is about Elbert Lee Williams who appealed his conviction of a guilty plea for drug crimes. In this latest instance in which he was arrested, he had appointed counsel but was still filing pro se motions. These motions were basically him proclaiming to be a sovereign citizen and challenging the jurisdiction of district courts to try criminal cases and asserting that the federal government had no authority over sovereigns.
He did eventually fire his attorney as he did not feel that his attorney was representing him in a way that he thought was acceptable. He then requested to represent himself and the judge was skeptical and questioned him further about his decision.
The judge wanted to know about the source of Mr. Williams’ sovereign citizen theories. He stated that he had picked up his theories while studying with other inmates during his incarceration. This is the most interesting part. Mr. Williams compared his legal situation to drowning and said “[a] drowning man will reach for a straw just to survive.”
The judge explained to him that though he may think he is doing something good when he is in fact hurting himself by utilizing illogical arguments that have no basis in law. In fact, it was one of the reasons why the judge wondered if he might have a mental illness which might be prohibiting him from fully understanding the decision he was making regarding self-representation.
Ultimately, the court did not rule in Mr. Williams’s favor. You can read the entirety of the opinion here but I did think it was interesting to hear Mr. Williams describe his choosing to utilize sovereign citizens theories by comparing his situation to that of a drowning man. It gives you a bit of insight into how and why some people choose this path.