With the Freemen of Montana:


MINNEAPOLIS — An original member of the Montana Freemen — an
anti-government group that conspired against the banking system in the
1990s and held an 81-day standoff with FBI agents — has been sentenced
to 7 ½ years in prison for retaliating against three federal judges.

Daniel Petersen, 67, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in
St. Paul on six counts of filing a false lien or encumbrance against a
federal judge. He is the first person to be sentenced under a 2008
federal law that makes it a felony to retaliate against a government
official by filing false liens, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office
in Minnesota.

"This prosecution, hopefully, will impress upon Petersen and others
that, regardless of their beliefs, they will be prosecuted if they
break the law, and their attempts at retaliation or intimidation will
not succeed," U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said.

Before the law was enacted, prosecutors really had no way of stopping
people from filing liens in attempts to damage someone's property
records, said Jeanne Cooney, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys
Office. She noted that even if the liens are based on illegitimate
documents, a property owner still must take legal action to clear his
or her name.

"Filing liens is a favorite pastime for some of the anti-tax and
anti-government folks," Cooney said. "The law was really an attempt to
quash some of this activity."

'Greedy scoundrels'

Petersen was in the custody of U.S. Marshals on Wednesday and could
not be reached for comment. He represented himself during his October
trial. Court documents show that in his closing argument, he referred
to his victims as "greedy scoundrels" and said he hoped they would
lose their homes as a result of his liens.

Petersen is a founder of the Montana Freemen, an anti-government group
that created its own "state," called Justus Township, in Montana. The
group funded itself by filing bogus multimillion-dollar liens against
public officials and others who crossed them, then issuing phony
checks against the liens.

In 1996, Petersen and the group's leader, LeRoy Schweitzer, were
arrested on fraud and conspiracy charges. Afterward, other members
barricaded themselves on the 960-acre ranch and held the FBI at bay
for 81 days. They surrendered without a shot being fired.

Petersen, believed to be the No. 2 man in the hierarchy, was convicted
on 19 counts and sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in
Seattle to 15 years in prison.

While serving his sentence in a federal prison in Minnesota, Petersen
devised a plan to retaliate against Coughenour, as well as two federal
judges in Texas.


While in custody, Petersen sent a 10-page, handwritten letter to
then-Secretary of State Madeline Albright, demanding $100 trillion,
plus $1 billion per day in interest, for unlawfully confining him.
When Albright didn't respond, he obtained a "judgment" against the
U.S. through the Common Law Court of Justus Township, a court the
Montana Freemen created, prosecutors said.

With his $100 trillion judgment, Petersen began filing liens against
the real property of the three federal judges and issued "bounties"
for the judges' arrests, offering rewards to anyone who brought them
to Minnesota. He claimed that as federal officers, the judges were
financially liable for his judgment against the United States.

Petersen also created a phony company with his judgment. He then got
inmates to invest in the company, saying they could redeem
certificates for payment after he collected money the government owed
him.

Coughenour, who sentenced Petersen in 1999, did not immediately return
a message seeking comment Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings
in Texas had no comment on Petersen's sentence, and U.S. District
Judge Sam Sparks in Texas also did not immediately return a message
left by The Associated Press.

In addition to maintaining they are sovereign and not subject to
federal or state laws, the Freemen also claim God intended white
people to rule the earth.