RAVENNA - Citing U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Catherine Donkers argued Thursday that a judge had no authority to sentence her for three traffic violations on the Ohio Turnpike.
The 29-year-old Michigan woman, who admitted she was breast-feeding her infant daughter in her lap on May 8 as an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper was trying to pull her over, said any sentence would be unjust because there was no victim in the case.
No harm done, she said.
And no monetary damage.
However, at the end of a four-hour hearing in which she repeatedly tried to explain how her rights were violated, Portage County Municipal Court Judge Donald H. Martell sentenced her to 90 days of electronically monitored house arrest. The judge also put her on probation for two years, ordered her to undergo a mental health evaluation for continually defying law enforcement officers, and fined her $500 for the traffic offenses.
However, because Donkers said she would appeal any decision, Martell delayed execution of the sentence until the appeal is settled. Assistant Portage County Prosecutor Sean P. Scahill said Donkers has 30 days to file an appeal with the 11th District Court of Appeals in Warren.
Prior to the sentencing, Donkers addressed the judge from a 17-page statement. She contended he was powerless to sentence her because he had not taken a formal oath of office to start his latest term on the bench.
``So, it's time for me to go home?'' the judge replied.
Martell sentenced her anyway. Then, after the proceeding had adjourned, he called everyone back into the courtroom. He then produced the original document of his most recent oath, dated Dec. 24, 2001, and even gave Donkers a copy for her appeal.
She looked it over and walked to the rear of the courtroom to consult with her husband, 47-year-old Brad L. Barnhill, who was whispering instructions to her throughout the hearing from his seat in the gallery.
Outside court, Donkers' mother, who would not give her name, was caring for the couple's 13-month-old daughter, Seren, who is just beginning to walk.
Donkers, who acted as her own lawyer in a two-day trial in August, was found guilty of driving without a license, failing to comply with a police officer's order, and violating a car-seat law by nursing her baby while driving.
In trial testimony, she also admitted she was talking to her husband on her cell phone as the trooper was trailing her for three miles -- and taking notes on the steering wheel about what she should do.
She finally pulled off the turnpike and stopped near a toll booth, she testified, because she felt it was safe there.
Donkers and Barnhill, who say they live near Los Angeles, had based the case -- in voluminous court filings -- on their religious beliefs as members of an organization called the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty. The basis of their ``deeply held spiritual beliefs,'' stated in their filings, is that the husband is ``the sole head of the family'' and the only one who can punish the wife for a public act.
The case has drawn attention throughout the United States and in Canada. Even a French press agency based in Chicago picked up on it.
After Thursday's hearing, Donkers called the judge's sentence unfair and absurd because, she said, ``he's apparently the only one who thinks I wasn't nursing my child when this happened.''
As an additional part of Donkers' probation, the judge ordered her to refrain from driving a vehicle until she gets a valid license. Donkers said she has been unable to get a driver's license anywhere because of her refusal to give her Social Security number.
She also repeated in court a quote she told the judge came from Thomas Jefferson. ``The evils of tyranny are only seen by those who resist it.''
The actual quote, from American statesman John Hay in 1872, is: ``The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it.''
Donkers and Barnhill were involved in two other run-ins with police after traffic stops, according to testimony. In one of those incidents, on Sept. 12, 2001, in Maryland, police found two loaded handguns in the locked console compartment of their vehicle. Charges are pending for transporting and handling of firearms in a motor vehicle.
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*sigh*
I found it really weird, who still breast feeds untill then...it's almost kinda preverted....
Remind me never to fly with you....