Post by WaTcHeR on Mar 29, 2006 9:53:04 GMT -5
03/29/2006 - The former leader of a Flathead County citizens militia has sued a host of Montana law enforcement agencies - alleging civil rights violations - and is finally getting his day in court.
David Burgert, 41, is a federal prisoner plodding his way through a 10-year term on weapons charges meted out by a Missoula judge in 2004.
But the former snowmobile salesman appeared in U.S. District Court Monday for the first day of his civil suit against a dozen Missoula County employees - including Sheriff Mike McMeekin - the Kalispell Police Department, Kalispell Police Chief Frank Garner, a Kalispell police officer and a Flathead County deputy sheriff.
Burgert is representing himself pro se in the civil rights case and delivered his opening statement Monday morning to a jury of three men and three women. Chief U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy is presiding. The trial is scheduled to run through Wednesday.
In his complaint, Burgert alleges various instances of abuse, neglect and civil rights violations, beginning in 2001 and continuing through 2003.
He accuses Flathead County Sheriff's Deputy Tom Snyder of lying in a report, and alleges that one police officer blasted him with OC-10 pepper spray, then others put a cloth bag over his head without decontaminating the incapacitating chemical spray.
But in four separate opening statements, defense attorneys said the officers on trial were dealing with a man whose disdain for law enforcement was notorious, as was his penchant for weapons.
Most people know Burgert as the former leader of a right-wing militant group called Project 7, named for the number on Flathead County license plates.
The group armed itself heavily and allegedly plotted to assassinate local officials, then go to war with the National Guard and overthrow the government.
“Dave Burgert is angry with just about every law enforcement agency he has ever come in contact with,” said Sean Goicoechea, who is representing Deputy Snyder.
Goicoechea said Burgert's only encounter with Snyder occurred in January 2001, after a friend of Burgert's led deputies on a car chase and then sought refuge at Burgert's home. Burgert came out of his house and instructed his friend to go inside.
Snyder knew the men were frequently armed, Goicoechea said, and even noticed a bumper sticker on Burgert's friend's truck that read “shoot first - live longer.”
Burgert was eventually charged with assaulting Snyder after striking him in the cheek that evening, but bonded out of jail.
Burgert failed to appear for a court hearing and was arrested in February 2002 after an armed standoff with authorities. When he was arrested, Burgert was manning a mounted machine gun in a wooded hideout.
Authorities later searched a home and several other sites associated with the group and found thousands of rounds of ammunition along with homemade and commercial explosives. He was one of six people ultimately arrested in the case.
But Burgert said he's been treated inhumanely by authorities in both Missoula and Kalispell. He said he was denied medical attention in Missoula and then punished for making formal grievances and complaints.
Law enforcement officers maintain that they always acted reasonably.
Attorney James Vidal said Kalispell police officers used pepper spray because of Burgert's erratic behavior, and placed a nylon “spit hood” on his head because he “reasonably believed that the plaintiff's repeated spitting constituted a health risk to his officers. He advised the plaintiff that he would be decontaminated of OC-10 spray as soon as he settled down,” according to a trial brief.
Prior to his sentencing, Burgert was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid personality disorder. Before the trial, Burgert was being treated at a federal medical center in Minnesota.
David Burgert, 41, is a federal prisoner plodding his way through a 10-year term on weapons charges meted out by a Missoula judge in 2004.
But the former snowmobile salesman appeared in U.S. District Court Monday for the first day of his civil suit against a dozen Missoula County employees - including Sheriff Mike McMeekin - the Kalispell Police Department, Kalispell Police Chief Frank Garner, a Kalispell police officer and a Flathead County deputy sheriff.
Burgert is representing himself pro se in the civil rights case and delivered his opening statement Monday morning to a jury of three men and three women. Chief U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy is presiding. The trial is scheduled to run through Wednesday.
In his complaint, Burgert alleges various instances of abuse, neglect and civil rights violations, beginning in 2001 and continuing through 2003.
He accuses Flathead County Sheriff's Deputy Tom Snyder of lying in a report, and alleges that one police officer blasted him with OC-10 pepper spray, then others put a cloth bag over his head without decontaminating the incapacitating chemical spray.
But in four separate opening statements, defense attorneys said the officers on trial were dealing with a man whose disdain for law enforcement was notorious, as was his penchant for weapons.
Most people know Burgert as the former leader of a right-wing militant group called Project 7, named for the number on Flathead County license plates.
The group armed itself heavily and allegedly plotted to assassinate local officials, then go to war with the National Guard and overthrow the government.
“Dave Burgert is angry with just about every law enforcement agency he has ever come in contact with,” said Sean Goicoechea, who is representing Deputy Snyder.
Goicoechea said Burgert's only encounter with Snyder occurred in January 2001, after a friend of Burgert's led deputies on a car chase and then sought refuge at Burgert's home. Burgert came out of his house and instructed his friend to go inside.
Snyder knew the men were frequently armed, Goicoechea said, and even noticed a bumper sticker on Burgert's friend's truck that read “shoot first - live longer.”
Burgert was eventually charged with assaulting Snyder after striking him in the cheek that evening, but bonded out of jail.
Burgert failed to appear for a court hearing and was arrested in February 2002 after an armed standoff with authorities. When he was arrested, Burgert was manning a mounted machine gun in a wooded hideout.
Authorities later searched a home and several other sites associated with the group and found thousands of rounds of ammunition along with homemade and commercial explosives. He was one of six people ultimately arrested in the case.
But Burgert said he's been treated inhumanely by authorities in both Missoula and Kalispell. He said he was denied medical attention in Missoula and then punished for making formal grievances and complaints.
Law enforcement officers maintain that they always acted reasonably.
Attorney James Vidal said Kalispell police officers used pepper spray because of Burgert's erratic behavior, and placed a nylon “spit hood” on his head because he “reasonably believed that the plaintiff's repeated spitting constituted a health risk to his officers. He advised the plaintiff that he would be decontaminated of OC-10 spray as soon as he settled down,” according to a trial brief.
Prior to his sentencing, Burgert was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid personality disorder. Before the trial, Burgert was being treated at a federal medical center in Minnesota.