LAS VEGAS (AP) — A couple accused of plotting to abduct, torture and kill police to further their anti-authority "sovereign citizens" movement told a Las Vegas judge on Friday that they didn't recognize his authority to keep them in jail.
Justice of the Peace Conrad Hafen had none of it.
He made sure David Allen Brutsche, 42, and Devon Campbell Newman, 67, read the criminal complaints filed against them, then sent them back to jail pending a Sept. 9 preliminary hearing on charges of felony conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping.
Police say Brutsche and Newman held training sessions about sovereign citizen philosophy, shopped for guns, found a vacant house and rigged it to bind captives to cross beams during interrogation, and recorded videos to explain their actions and why officers had to die.
The judge appointed a public defender to represent Brutsche, over his rambling objections, and set bail at $600,000, citing a criminal history including a sex offense involving a child under 14 and failure to appear in traffic cases.
"I object to the entire proceedings of this court. For the record," Brutsche said.
