Filed: Jul. 01, 1999
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 1 1999 TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER Clerk LEWIS THEODORE WACKER; JOHN LEE WACKER; EDITH FAYE WACKER, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. SAM A. CROW, Judge; RONALD C. NEWMAN, Magistrate Judge; RANDALL RATHBUN, U.S. No. 99-3071 Attorney; JACKIE N. WILLIAMS, (District of Kansas) U.S. Attorney; GREGORY HOUGH, (D.C. No. 98-CV-3349) U.S. Assistant Attorney; WILLIAM HALVORSON, KBI Agent; RICKY ATTEBERRY, DEA Agent; JEFFERY
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 1 1999 TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER Clerk LEWIS THEODORE WACKER; JOHN LEE WACKER; EDITH FAYE WACKER, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. SAM A. CROW, Judge; RONALD C. NEWMAN, Magistrate Judge; RANDALL RATHBUN, U.S. No. 99-3071 Attorney; JACKIE N. WILLIAMS, (District of Kansas) U.S. Attorney; GREGORY HOUGH, (D.C. No. 98-CV-3349) U.S. Assistant Attorney; WILLIAM HALVORSON, KBI Agent; RICKY ATTEBERRY, DEA Agent; JEFFERY ..
More
F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
JUL 1 1999
TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
LEWIS THEODORE WACKER;
JOHN LEE WACKER; EDITH FAYE
WACKER,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
SAM A. CROW, Judge; RONALD C.
NEWMAN, Magistrate Judge;
RANDALL RATHBUN, U.S. No. 99-3071
Attorney; JACKIE N. WILLIAMS, (District of Kansas)
U.S. Attorney; GREGORY HOUGH, (D.C. No. 98-CV-3349)
U.S. Assistant Attorney; WILLIAM
HALVORSON, KBI Agent; RICKY
ATTEBERRY, DEA Agent; JEFFERY
BRANDAU, KBI Agent; JOHN AND
JANE DOES, Federal and Ellsworth
County, Barton County, Lincoln
County, Osborne County, Russell
County, Kansas Officers,
Defendants-Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
Before TACHA, McKAY, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
After examining Plaintiffs’ brief and the appellate record, this court has
determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the
determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G).
The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
Proceeding pro se, Plaintiffs, each incarcerated in separate penal
institutions, brought a civil rights action seeking monetary damages in excess of
$5,000,000 payable in gold coin. Construed liberally, Plaintiffs’ complaint
ostensibly alleged several violations of their civil rights. Plaintiffs’ main claims
revolved around their allegation that the United States District Court for the
District of Kansas had no jurisdiction over Plaintiffs because the American flag
displayed in the federal courtroom was adorned with a yellow fringe. Plaintiffs
claimed the inclusion of the yellow fringe on the flag effectively commuted the
district court into a foreign power. Plaintiffs’ complaint also included a claim
that two of the defendants, a federal district judge and a federal magistrate judge,
engaged in constructive treason because they presided in a courtroom that
displayed the yellow-fringed flag. Although Plaintiffs’ complaint also provides
full or partial citations to a plethora of statutes, the remainder of the complaint is
indecipherable.
The district court held that Plaintiffs’ complaint failed to state a claim upon
which relief may be granted and dismissed the complaint with prejudice. In its
Order, the district court adequately and coherently set forth the reasoning
underlying the dismissal. The district court denied Plaintiffs’ subsequent motion
for reconsideration.
In their appellate brief, Plaintiffs purport to reassert the same allegations
first appearing in their complaint. In addition, Plaintiffs attempt to add a claim
that their Constitutional rights have been violated by the capitalization of their
names in court documents. The remainder of Plaintiffs’ appellate brief contains
pages of desultory verbiage that has no application to either their original
complaint or their appeal of its dismissal.
Upon de novo review of Plaintiffs’ complaint, the district court’s Order,
and the entire record on appeal, this court concludes that Plaintiffs’ appeal is
frivolous and malicious. Accordingly, this court dismisses Plaintiffs’ appeal
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i).
The district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’ complaint for failure to state a
claim counts as a “prior occasion” for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Our
dismissal of Plaintiffs’ appeal also counts as a “prior occasion” for purposes of 28
U.S.C. § 1915(g).
-3-
Plaintiffs’ appeal is DISMISSED.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT:
Per Curiam
-4-