“Sovereign citizen” Dennis Marx is shot dead during a brutal gunfight on Friday outside the Forsyth County Courthouse in Cumming, Georgia. He unleashes a hail of fire from his rifle, wounding a deputy sheriff, before being shot dead by other deputies on the scene. The firefight is captured on video.
The red smoke in the video is from Marx’s smoke grenades.
The “sovereign citizen” movement is particulary dangerous. They assert an insane mishmash?of beliefs about the federal government, refuse to pay taxes, decide which (if any) laws they should obey, file reams of ridiculous lawsuits and liens, and often resort to violence — usually with guns — when they don’t get their way. The movement is rooted in racism and white separatism, though some “sovereigns,” including, presumably, the African-Americans who identify with the movement, aren’t aware of that aspect.
If you’re a sovereign, you can, and will at the slightest provocation, spew a mass of claptrap about how the “real” federal government was supplanted by a “secret” government based in admiralty law which has enslaved everyone who isn’t part of the movement. Money is worthless, they say, and the only real authority in the country is the county sheriff. (Deciphering their Byzantine and contradictory belief system is akin to peeling a large, rotten onion with no true core. You can spiral down that road if you choose. I’ve tried, and it gave me migraines.)
If you think some Tea Party organizations have affiliations with the sovereign movement, you’d be right. And if you think it sounds like some of the nutbaggery espoused by millionaire tax dodger Cliven Bundy, you’d be right about that, too.
Marx is a shining example of the extremes “sovereigns” will go to in order to assert their sovereignty. On this sleepy Friday morning, Marx roars up to the courthouse in his SUV and lobs homemade smoke bombs, pepper spray grenades, and spike sticks out the window in what appears to be an attempt to keep law enforcement officials at bay. When confronted by Deputy James Daniel Rush, Marx shoots Rush in the leg through the windshield of the vehicle. Marx then leaps out of the SUV and begins spraying bullets with his rifle. Other deputies return fire, killing Marx.
Forsyth County Sheriff Duane Piper credits Rush with saving the lives of countless people.
It would be a guess to think how many lives he saved had he not engaged him right there. Mr. Marx’s intention was to get inside that front door and to take hostages. … He had been planning it for a while.
Rush’s injuries are not life-threatening. Marx was armed with explosives, a rifle, a large amount of ammunition, flex ties, body armor and a gas mask, according to Piper. The sheriff also explains:
The SWAT team, which happened to be close by on their way to another function, also pulled up about 30 seconds into this gunfire fight and they engaged Mr. Marx, and Mr. Marx is dead with multiple gunshot wounds. … He came prepared to stay a while. We don’t know who he was coming to the courthouse for, but with the flex ties and the restraining devices he had with him … we have to assume that he was there to occupy the courthouse.
Eyewitness Jason Leonard, who was less than 100 feet from Marx when Marx began firing, recalls watching Marx leap out of the courthouse
with a rifle in his hand, unloaded [fired] the rifle, and that’s when the officers unloaded on him.
Marx was scheduled to appear in court last Monday to be tried on charges of possessing marijuana. He refused to appear, not surprising considering the hatred and contempt most sovereigns hold for the judicial system. The case was to be reset for today, with his lawyer saying that Marx intended to plead guilty.
Police officers search his home after the shooting, and find homemade explosives.
In 2013, Marx filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s department “on behalf of the citizens of Forsyth County, state of Georgia and all citizens of the United States,” claiming the department violated the constitutional rights of the county citizenry by routinely engaging in illegal searches and using excessive force. Piper says the lawsuit stemmed directly from Marx’s arrest on drug charges.
As part of the lawsuit, Marx claimed that the arrest had damaged what he called his “on-going search for additional employment,” and demanded financial damages for that as well as the seizure of his “life savings” and his gun collection. Marx claimed to be a professionally-trained, certified Glock armorer, and said that the sheriff had made it impossible for him to find work.
The Forsyth County authorities inappropriately acting within their respective jurisdictions have already sealed the plaintiff’s future. Plaintiff seeks to ensure that other unsuspecting citizens are spared the lies and brutality that he has personally survived to date.
Marx was referencing legal attempts to seize over two dozen guns, 71 gun magazines and $24,311 in cash that authorities believed was Marx’s profits from drug peddling.
Marx’s lawyer, Ann Shafer, describes Marx as “relatively unstable,” and says he has made “veiled threats” against her and his other lawyer, Manny Arora.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, sovereigns “believe that virtually all existing government in the United States is illegitimate and seek to ‘restore’ an idealized, minimalist government that never actually existed.”
Noted crime author J.D. Rhoades, who is also a defense attorney who has dealt with “sovereigns” in the courtroom on several occasions, says:
They’re pretty amusing until something like this happens and you realize how dangerously unstable some of them are.
A week ago, another “sovereign” was shot to death in Ohio after assaulting deputies attempting to arrest him for probation violation.
Published writer since 2001, focusing on politics, history, Web development, and other topics. First book is coming soon.
edited by tw
