Judge LAUGHS At Sovereign Citizen! PART 1.

[00:00:01]Good morning, Mr. Imitem.

[00:00:02]Do you have a lawyer today?

[00:00:03]>> Uh no, representing myself.

[00:00:10]>> You were charged with an unlawful carrying of a weapon. Looks like you also out of the same charge picked up a fraud as well.

[00:00:20]Um I mean, okay, you can represent yourself. It's your absolute right. I mean, it's I don't know how smart it is.

[00:00:29]Have you ever represented yourself before?

[00:00:31]>> And how did that go?

[00:00:32]>> I had many dismissals.

[00:00:35]>> For what kind of cases?

[00:00:36]>> I had a dismissal on unlawful carrying before.

[00:00:39]>> And you represented yourself?

[00:00:40]>> Yes.

[00:00:43]>> In In this In this court?

[00:00:45]>> couple of Just unlawful carrying of a PC.

[00:00:49]>> Oh, well, I found no probable cause.

[00:00:50]That's why it got dismissed. You didn't represent yourself.

[00:00:53]>> Uh [clears throat] I was representing myself, but the judge didn't find no probable cause.

[00:00:56]>> I found it Well, was it me?

[00:00:58]>> No, no, it wasn't you.

[00:00:59]It was >> Well, I don't know. I think it was you.

[00:01:01]>> Judge June 9th, 2020.

[00:01:02]>> I found no probable cause.

[00:01:04]>> I think that was you.

[00:01:04]>> You didn't represent yourself for nothing, man. I did it.

[00:01:08]No.

[00:01:09]Okay. So, uh well, you can hope and wish and dream, whatever. Um If you want to represent yourself, you're more than you're entitled to do that, right? But, yeah.

[00:01:20]A Well, I like to tell people it's like brain surgery. When you need brain surgery, when you need heart surgery, you know, are you going to do that on yourself? Because you're not trained.

[00:01:30]You know, you don't know how to perform open heart surgery. Same thing with the law. You know, you're not trained in it.

[00:01:38]I I mean, I'm assuming that you're not You didn't go to law school, did you?

[00:01:41]What How far did you get in school?

[00:01:43]>> I graduated school. I went to some college.

[00:01:45]>> How far did you get?

[00:01:47]>> Two years. I got a certificate. I mean, not in college, but I went to school.

[00:01:51]>> Okay. So, um we're in the middle of trial now.

[00:01:54]Um and so, I don't have the time to go through all what they're called Farretta warnings to see whether you should um represent yourself. I'm happy to do that.

[00:02:03]Um why don't we delay it off one like a week? Are you Are you working at this time?

[00:02:08]>> Uh yeah, and I I stay in Austin. I don't live in Houston, so.

[00:02:12]>> Uh what do you do for a living?

[00:02:14]>> I own business.

[00:02:15]>> Doing what?

[00:02:15]>> Reselling.

[00:02:17]Resell clothing. Audio production.

[00:02:20]>> How much money do you make a month?

[00:02:21]>> Uh I can't tell you, but it's basically this.

[00:02:25]>> You're very cryptic in all your answers, you know. And not only that, but you going to Austin, if you represent yourself, you're going to have to meet with the DAs on a constant basis to get evidence, so that's going to require you to come here to Houston quite a bit.

[00:02:39]>> I was ready to file my motions today if I needed to be if you know.

[00:02:41]>> Okay. [clears throat] Before I do that though, I need to have a Farretta hearing. Um if you're willing to wait, we can do that a little bit later when I take a break in trial.

[00:02:48]>> Um I had this way I had my other case um upstairs the same day. The judge from when I came to >> Have you been up there yet?

[00:02:56]>> No, I haven't been up there yet.

[00:02:57]>> go up there, when you're done, come back down here.

[00:02:59]>> Okay.

[00:03:00]>> Don't forget to come back. If you don't come back, I'm going to issue >> Are you ready?

[00:03:04]>> Yes, sir.

[00:03:04]>> Okay. All right. So, today is September 11th, 2024. It's approximately 12:25 p.m.

[00:03:13]Um we are now in court five. In front of me I have Eaton Ematon, case number 2522688.

[00:03:23]Would you please identify yourself for purposes of the record?

[00:03:26]>> The defendant, Eaton Ematon.

[00:03:28]>> Would you please raise your right hand?

[00:03:30]Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

[00:03:37]That you're going to tell the truth.

[00:03:38]That's it. Yes?

[00:03:40]>> Yes.

[00:03:40]>> Okay. Um State, would [clears throat] you identify?

[00:03:43]>> Robert Droppleman for the State.

[00:03:44]>> Okay. So, um the reason that we're putting this on the record now is um Mr. Ematon has been charged with the offense of unlawful carrying of a weapon.

[00:03:55]Um the case is 40 days old.

[00:03:59]It appears that probable cause has already been found. I don't know if I did probable cause on this or if I don't know if another judge did because um I don't [clears throat] I don't remember Mr. Emiton and I was out a week.

[00:04:13]>> It was another judge, sir.

[00:04:14]>> Yeah, logging lollygagging. So, let's just do it first.

[00:04:18]>> Okay, >> [clears throat] >> on August 2nd, 2024, officers observed a car without a front license plate, changed [snorts] lanes without a signal, and have expired registration as of March 2023.

[00:04:32]Upon approaching, officers smelled marijuana.

[00:04:35]PC search returned 4.17 g and a loaded Smith & Wesson handgun.

[00:04:41]Additionally, there was a backpack with three checks that did not belong to him.

[00:04:46]Officer called Kumamoto who said said the checks were stolen from her restaurant on July 8th when defendant broke the front window, went to the back where the checks were kept in the office, broke the hinge of the back door, and exited.

[00:05:04]>> So, um as a result because of that, he was charged felony fraud on that one. On the check.

[00:05:11]Okay?

[00:05:12]Yes, he has an open case in the 182nd.

[00:05:15]Looks like he made a $15,000 bond with us. I am going to find there's probable cause to go forward.

[00:05:21]Um >> [clears throat] >> I was just going to say something about the record.

[00:05:25]>> Well, hold on a second. We'll we'll get there. I'll let you say your piece, but do you have a Texas driver license?

[00:05:30]>> I have a US DOT private property number with the the FMCSA.

[00:05:35]Uh what my vehicle was on there. It was sticker tags, everything with my business, the Emiton Estates. That's with the Department of Transportation.

[00:05:43]>> Is that from the state of Texas or from where?

[00:05:48]>> This is federal. This is with the Department of Transportation.

[00:05:50]>> Okay. But you still need a Texas driver license and you need registration and >> I did all my best with them cuz it was private property that I had. They said I didn't if I didn't need to get registration with the state of Texas because I registered it in They said I'll be my volunteer but since it's private property, I'm going to have to register it.

[00:06:11]>> Okay.

[00:06:12]Um from what I know of the law, you need a Texas driver license to be able to drive.

[00:06:17]>> Um I wish I mean this this is what your addiction is this case being tried on. That's what I'm trying to cuz I'm kind of don't know what it's being tried on.

[00:06:27]>> It's >> Criminal or civil or >> Criminal. Yeah.

[00:06:30]Right. You're facing jail time, right?

[00:06:33]>> I believe so.

[00:06:33]>> Weren't you taken to jail?

[00:06:35]>> Yeah.

[00:06:36]>> So that wouldn't lead you to believe it's criminal, right?

[00:06:39]>> Yeah, but under common law or is it military and criminal because also >> I've been waiting for something like this for so long.

[00:06:48]>> This is it, her final warning.

[00:06:50]Five years of probation, strict conditions, and zero room for mistakes.

[00:06:56]One wrong move and this second chance disappears instantly.

[00:07:00]>> You need a license to drive, a Texas driver license.

[00:07:04]It's That's it.

[00:07:06]You either have one or you don't.

[00:07:09]The federal government has regulated to the states through the Constitution that they have allowed the states on their own initiative to create laws regarding driving on highways and byways. So that's why you see every single state has different requirements for licensing, insurance, um mode of transportation.

[00:07:37]The federal government has somewhat to do with it but by and large, they have delegated to the states that they are their own entity with regard to creating laws in their specific highways. So, that's why every single state has a different type of license, different type of insurance. Like the Texas driver license is what? White versus Arkansas might be yellow or red or Hawaii might be have So, that's every single state has their own laws with regard.

[00:08:10]In Texas, you have to have a Texas driver license. You also have to have liability insurance as a minimum in the event that you get into an accident.

[00:08:20]Those are the two main requirements that you need to drive. If you're going to drive a vehicle, it also has to be registered so that they know that you're driving the vehicle and that you own it or have the right to have that, so it's not a stolen vehicle.

[00:08:34]Um >> I I own the vehicle and everything. When I was here the last year I was with the judge, right? What he was saying, he said that wouldn't had applied to me, but he was going to see what they're going to say about the other court about the probable cause of stopping me because he said registration wouldn't had a front license plate wouldn't had applied to me.

[00:08:52]>> It does apply to you. It applies everybody. Everybody has to have a back license plate. They also have to have a front license plate. In so much they also tell you where it has to be on the car. They regulate you can't put it in the windshield.

[00:09:04]>> State, right?

[00:09:05]>> State. Right. They tell you where it has to be. You can't put it on the windshield. You can't put it on um like on what's it called the on the light. It's got to be right there. They even tell you how many centimeters it's supposed to be from the street to the actual place on the car. That's how bad the state of Texas micromanages all these things. They even tell you how many damn centimeters it's got to be on the car. So, you have to have a front license plate. You got to have a license, got to have insurance.

[00:09:39]Um So, if you don't have that, you can't drive.

[00:09:43]And that's it.

[00:09:44]>> I stated to them I was traveling. I was arguing with them, but I was traveling.

[00:09:47]I wasn't making commerce. I used to do medical transportation, so I'm kind of aware with licensing and registration and everything. That's why with my private vehicles, I did that with the US diet instead of the state.

[00:09:59]And I didn't know that was >> Correct.

[00:10:01]>> And if you're traveling, >> you need a license. It doesn't matter whether you're saying you're conveying, whether you're traveling, whether you're um you know, driving uh It's a privilege. It's not a right.

[00:10:15]Right? There's a big difference between a privilege versus a right. You have the right to walk.

[00:10:20]>> right to travel, don't I?

[00:10:21]>> Yeah, taking your happy-go-lucky feet.

[00:10:24]You want to travel? Take those two feet to travel, not in a car.

[00:10:27]>> This what the 14th Amendment was saying, like I have the right to travel.

[00:10:30]>> You do. Yes, and you can walk your happy ass from one part to the other part. Not in a car, though. Not without a license and insurance.

[00:10:42]>> I looked into this with the Department of Transportation. They said automobiles were on there, carrier, on bicycles.

[00:10:48]>> They're wrong. I'm just telling you now they're wrong. Whoever told you that, whatever, whoever, where you got that, it's complete cuz imagine this, Mr. Emmett Till. And I've seen this before.

[00:10:58]Imagine that you get into an accident, right?

[00:11:02]And you kill a 5-year-old kid.

[00:11:05]What's going to happen at that point?

[00:11:08]Whoever owns that car, the other people, they're going to come after you. They're not going to go after all They're going to come after you. The first thing they're going to do is, do you have insurance? And if you don't have insurance, they're going to sue you, and then they're going to attach a lien on absolutely everything that you own to satisfy the judgment they get against you. And they will take your house, they will take your car, they will take your bank account, they will attach to where if you ever want to start working and get a paycheck, they're going to garnish all that money.

[00:11:41]You have insurance liability insurance so that if you ever get into an accident, you don't mean to do it. You don't You didn't mean to kill the kid.

[00:11:49]It's not an on purpose meant it was it's an accident. And accidents happen. You might be looking at your phone, you're looking at you know, this pretty girl that's walking across the street and then boom, you know?

[00:12:01]You have insurance so that if that happens, the insurance company will pay on your behalf so you don't have to pay out of your own pocket. And they will even give you a lawyer to represent you on your behalf because that's what you pay for when you get insurance. If you get into an accident, lawyers usually call you and say, "Hey man, tell me what happened.

[00:12:24]Was it your fault or was it the other people's fault? Because we want to know who to pay."

[00:12:29]And that's why for 30 to 40 dollars a month you get insurance for that very purpose. And I've seen people come here, they have killed someone and they get a 250,000 dollar judgment against them.

[00:12:41]I've seen it.

[00:12:42]And God, you you'll never dig yourself out of that.

[00:12:47]So the conveying the this, that, you need a license. You got to have insurance. And we do it with every single person that comes in.

[00:12:56]>> So I'll say for all of the carry, the possession of marijuana, the person that was in the vehicle told the officer wasn't it was legal hemp that they got from the store. They have receipts and everything in Texas.

[00:13:08]You can have legal hemp. They got it from the store. He even told the officer it was theirs.

[00:13:12]He pulled me out the car. He didn't ask for any paperwork.

[00:13:15]>> Now, I mean now you're you're you're making happen apples and oranges, right?

[00:13:19]Now, we got to test it. Is it weed?

[00:13:22]>> Oh yeah, we we >> Is it hemp?

[00:13:23]>> Yes, sir.

[00:13:23]>> Understand that takes time, but you also need a lawyer to represent you.

[00:13:28]>> Uh I found my own discovery. I was representing myself pro se.

[00:13:31]>> And you can do that if you want.

[00:13:32]>> Yeah.

[00:13:33]>> But we have to go through a series of questions.

[00:13:35]>> I'm representing myself with plenty of times. I have dismissals here from Harris County.

[00:13:39]>> Remember and and for purposes of the record, um so Mr. Emmett Tom had a case with me here.

[00:13:48]Um it was May it was actually June 7th of 2022. He was charged with another gun case and that was with Victor Victoriano. God, that was a great DA, too.

[00:14:00]Um and I found no probable cause in that case, right? So you didn't represent yourself in that case. I found no probable cause and they dismissed it.

[00:14:08]They didn't have to dismiss it, but they did dismiss it. So >> [clears throat] >> other than that case, have you ever represented yourself?

[00:14:14]>> Yeah, many times. I have dismissals all through here from Harris County.

[00:14:18]Traffic violations, uh >> You're welcome to do it, you know, and you know Who's one of the worst What Who's one of the best presidents that that in history that you can think about right now?

[00:14:35]>> I don't know.

[00:14:36]To me, right now?

[00:14:37]>> So you can't think of one good president that we've ever had?

[00:14:40]>> I don't know any.

[00:14:40]>> Abraham Lincoln, he wasn't good?

[00:14:42]>> I never met him. I don't know about him at that time.

[00:14:45]>> Abraham Lincoln said something, he goes, "You know what?

[00:14:49]He who represents himself has a fool for a client." Meaning that when you represent yourself there is an inherent conflict and there's an inherent bias and you may not be able to see things objectively. Meaning that you have your heart, you've got your soul into this case.

[00:15:10]So you may not be able to see from an outside position if they're same same saying something that makes sense. You're absolutely entitled to represent yourself. And if you want to do that, you're more than welcome to it, and I have no problem with you doing it. You need to understand though, if you represent yourself, you can't come at a later date and say, "You know what?

[00:15:31]Uh I had ineffective assistance of counsel.

[00:15:34]My lawyer sucked." Well, you represented yourself. You now can't complain about that. You know, if you if you go to trial and you lose, and I end up putting your butt in jail for a year, you can't complain. You're stuck like Chuck for a whole year. Cuz that's what you're facing. You're facing a year in jail, and you got a bunch of other documents too that you know, so um >> Let me get my discovery from that last month that I filed.

[00:15:57]>> Well, let's let's let's do the let's do the questions. So, your full What is your full name?

[00:16:02]>> Antoine Sherrod Gay Milton.

[00:16:04]>> Okay. How old are you?

[00:16:06]>> I'm 34.

[00:16:07]>> Where were you born?

[00:16:08]>> In America.

[00:16:10]>> Were you born here in Houston? Were you born in >> I was born in America. I was born in Texas.

[00:16:14]>> Okay. You read and you read and write English, right?

[00:16:18]>> Yes.

[00:16:18]>> Okay.

[00:16:19]Um do you have any learning disabilities or communication handicaps?

[00:16:24]Have you ever been declared mentally incompetent or treated for any mental health disorder?

[00:16:28]>> No.

[00:16:29]>> Okay.

[00:16:30]Um you said last time I asked you about your educational background, you graduated from high school.

[00:16:37]>> Graduated high school and some college.

[00:16:39]>> How far did you get in college?

[00:16:40]>> About 2 and 1/2 years.

[00:16:41]>> Did you get to any Did you do any legal courses whatsoever?

[00:16:45]>> Uh that that and I started doing medical transportation. I was taking classes for paramedics. I was I was just doing my basics. I was doing my basics.

[00:16:54]>> studying in college?

[00:16:55]>> I was just doing my basics. I getting into that.

[00:16:58]>> Yeah, I mean that makes sense and and when you're beginning, that's all you do anyways, right?

[00:17:02]Do you have any legal training, education, or experience?

[00:17:06]>> I have experience with dealing with the court being charged before.

[00:17:09]>> And any other legal Have you Do you know about the code of criminal procedure?

[00:17:15]>> Yeah, I'm pretty I'm familiar.

[00:17:17]>> Do you know about the Texas Penal Code?

[00:17:19]>> I'm not I'm familiar with a lot not too many familiar with a lot of statutes and codes.

[00:17:23]>> Were you here for our earlier trial?

[00:17:26]>> No, I went up >> I know I know you went to the felony court, but we were in trial earlier. Did you see what happened in trial earlier?

[00:17:32]>> I saw the trial like a glimpse of it walking in.

[00:17:35]>> What I'm trying to say is that the lawyers on both sides had to introduce evidence.

[00:17:40]There's a There's a specific procedure that you have to follow to have evidence admitted. It's detailed in the codes.

[00:17:48]You have to know that because once you represent yourself, I'm going to treat you as if you were a lawyer. I will hold you to the same standard, and I'm not here to put you through law school because I have way too much drama as it is. I don't need any more drama, right?

[00:18:02]So, if you don't do it the right way, I'm going to shut you down, right? I like to be nice to people, but I'm not taking you to school.

[00:18:09]Do you understand this?

[00:18:12]Um Do you understand the charges against you?

[00:18:16]>> No, I don't I don't understand the nature of it.

[00:18:18]>> Okay, you're charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon.

[00:18:22]You're facing up to a year in jail.

[00:18:24]What they're saying is that you unlawfully had a weapon. As a result, you were charged, and now you're facing up to a year.

[00:18:32]Do you understand?

[00:18:34]>> Yeah, what they tell me, but I still don't understand like why I went to jail for that. That's why I'm >> What do you not understand?

[00:18:42]>> Um the court procedures or >> No, no, no, no. I'm asking about the nature of the charges. No, that's not Don't look Don't talk about the procedures. Don't talk about the licensing about the conveying.

[00:18:51]>> know I'm getting charged with unlawful carrying. And right >> Do you understand that?

[00:18:57]>> Yeah, what's going on?

[00:18:58]>> Okay.

[00:18:59]Um Do you have the right or you understand the range of punishment that you're facing a year?

[00:19:05]Correct?

[00:19:06]>> That's what I've been told.

[00:19:07]>> Okay.

[00:19:09]You have the right to court-appointed counsel.

[00:19:12]Do you want counsel to represent you?

[00:19:14]>> I don't want legal >> Um Do you understand that you will not be able to claim ineffective assistance counsel if you lose at a later time, whether it's in trial, whether it's in a hearing, whether anything?

[00:19:28]>> [clears throat] >> Do you understand that?

[00:19:30]What that means is that you cannot appeal this thing. If you're found guilty and you go to jail, you know, a lot of lawyers or a lot of defendants like to claim Sorry, guys. I'll be 2 minutes.

[00:19:42]A lot of lawyers, a lot of um defendants like to blame their lawyers for screwing up.

[00:19:48]And they say, "Hey, man, my lawyer messed up." I I can tell you like that's the number one thing that defendants complain about. And And they probably I don't know this for sure, but I would suspect probably the number one reason why cases are overturned because of ineffective assistance of counsel, meaning that a lawyer for one reason or other messed up and messed up so bad that their cases have to be redone. You cannot complain about that at a later time.

[00:20:13]>> Seen that many times. That's why I'm representing myself.

[00:20:16]>> But you can If you mess up, you cannot appeal this thing.

[00:20:20]Do you understand?

[00:20:22]Once and if you're found guilty, that's it.

[00:20:27]Do you understand?

[00:20:29]Um You also have to comply with the same appellate procedures if you lose.