[Applause] all right we're back on the record and recalling the case of inray contempt of Beth Bridgeman file 23- 0868 SD Miss it's now 11:16 uh Miss Bridgman is still not present in the courtroom is she present in the hallway not present okay she's not present uh this appears to be a willful appearance due to the fact that she's returned the uh show cause affidavit and the order with um with it cut into pieces with the red lettering your offer to contract is not accepted of course it's not an offer it's an order of the court to show cause she has now willfully not appeared Miss G the people have a request are you honor at this time since we're here on a show cause she's been properly served and also given an additional 15 minutes to appear we would ask for a bench warant to be issued has a bond uh no bonds I think given the willfulness uh of of the behavior we we'll set bonded arrangment so I I'll uh issue a warrant for Miss Bridgeman's arrest for her contempt for nonappearance today with no bond to be prepost all right thank [Music] you [Music] and welcome to facts or frauds what you are witnessing is real the participants are not actors all right good morning we are on the record in the 89th district court for the county of Shaban we're conducting the physical hearing upstairs in the circuit courtroom it's being clerked uh by the 89 District Court staff down the N courtroom and we're here in the case of inray Beth Bridgeman on a contempt matter it was filed in an underlying criminal case uh 23- 0868 SD we are providing Public Access both in the courtroom in the circuit courtroom uh and also online Council you want to State your appearances please good morning your honor page M on behalf of the people attorney Eric bla appearing as a Raymond attorney on behalf of Beth bridan I will represent myself yes we'll get to that I would like to say I'm here on special appearance no I think I have some rights here I don't know what does special appearance mean to you it means in a common law that I'm a living soul I am not the straw man of the all caps man we you'll have an opportunity at at a later time please please just take a seat I have never seen those opportunities come back around thank you okay we'll get to that in a moment I am not waving any of my right ma'am okay thank you m v you're free to stand or sit whichever you're more comfortable with I don't know how i' pull the chair up so thank you I have no problem all right all right well miss miss bridan you're here for an arraignment on two allegations of contemp so I have to advise you of uh what those are the first was an an order to show cause that I signed on December 13 2023 which alleges that you are in criminal contempt of court for the unauthorized practice of Law and for preventing the defendant Seth Flores from meeting with the Michigan hent defense commission attorney prior to his arraignment we scheduled that for a um show cause hearing on December 20th uh you you did apparently uh appear in the courthouse that day and turned in copy of the show cause cut into strips with the red lettering on it says your offered to contract is not accepted and then you did not appear at that show cause hearing so therefore I signed a warrant for your arrest for that not appearance so that warrant alleges that you are in criminal content for failing to appear at that show cause so failing to appear for order to show cause on Wednesday December 20th 2023 at 11: a.m for preventing defendant Seth Miguel Thomas Flores from meeting with MC attorney requir to his arraignment so those are the two contempt citations pending against you you have the right to have a hearing on both of those allegations where your contempt would need to be proven Beyond a reasonable doubt you have the right to present evidence in your own defense and cross-examine and challenge any of the evidence presented against you you have the right to an attorney uh if you qualified and requested you'd have the right to an attorney appointed at public expense the MC provides an attorney for your arraignment uh today just as a as a courtesy and as required by a St MC Michigan IND Indigent defense commission uh you also of course have the right to represent yourself um do you know well first do you uh do you comprehend the uh penalties oh I'm sorry I didn't tell you so so both those contempt citations if you are found to be in contempt or you admit to being in contempt you could be punished by up to 93 days in the county jail and or a fine of $7,500 or both that's the fine that's the maximum penalty for both of the contempt citations Miss bridan do you comprehend the rights that you have that I outline for you and the maximum penalties outline for you I think that I would like to wait I have a call into to the um state trooper that your office or the prosecutor's office called to to investigate something with me and um I was on the phone with her and told her I had received the show cause and she said he can't serve a show cause I shot over a copy of of it he can't serve a show cause because you're not under Bond my this is from the State Attorney General's office I was still on the phone with her I had filed the paperwork at 9 o'clock she called me at approximately 10:00 I was still on the phone with her till after 11:00 and she told me that you could not issue a show cause because I was not under Bond now I understand you have just precluded all of my common law rights by forcing me in the back door into your jurisdiction on this side of the court and I know that this is not what was on the original document in its entirety so you have amped up the charges based on the fact that I failed to appear but I believed she was going to let you know she was collecting information from me for you ma'am just understand what the what the judge asked you regarding those two charges did you just understand that I think there's a bigger overriding issue I'm not gonna have this I'm I'm going to fire him actually so thank you very much because I will represent myself okay so you're telling me things in defense of the content citations and you'll definitely have an opportunity to present any no because you already on Mr V way please stop I don't want to have this be an argument between you and Miss I I just I guess I just like to you know state that well I think we need to pleading not guilty to both of those and that she would like to request a hearing that she would like to represent herself at that future hearing no but all of my rights were strongly impinged upon for even when I never failed to appear okay we're going to have a hearing where you she was working okay okay you're going to get your away stop arguing with Miss brid okay I mean it's a pretty serious thing to have to spend the night in jail um to be brought in in handcuffs and everything else when I was not being belligerent in that regard she told me that it was not an authorized show cause all right if she told you that she didn't have the authority to do so but anyway that that's for the later hearing so today today's purpose is to advise you of the two contempt citations so do you comprehend the maximum penalty that those could carry and the rights that you have that I outlined for you now can I ask what statutes or what law or what are you saying here are are the charges because this does not match sorry I have cotton mouth so bad this does not match what the previous document was that you sent to me and I have a picture of it on my phone but my phone's not with me okay it does not say I've told you the charges I don't have to answer further questions about that from you do you understand the rights that I listed for you in the penalties why have they changed I'm not answering that question can the prosecutor no why I need an answer to my question you understand that so you said you want to represent yourself right you do you wish to represent yourself and not have an attorney represent you yes I do if you want to do that I must establish that you know what the penalties are and what your rights are and I have to establish that you're not going to be disruptive to the court if you refuse so are those if you refuse then I'm going to appoint okay then I would appoint an attorney for you and you'd not be able to represent yourself I know I listened to that with Trevor's case all right so so I'm asking you and you saw what how can I briman so I first have to make sure you know what the maximum penalties are and what your rights are do you not those maximum penalties are based on the charges and I'm wondering how you arrived at a change in the charges uh because you're lonely I'm not answering that question you know that you could face up a 93 days in jail and over $7500 Mar you understand up to that okay but I don't even understand what the charges are and do you have any question questions for me about any of the rights that I listed that you have to have an attorney and have a hearing and present evidence have any question about any of those rights I have a whole question about the whole um context of everything today judge goth here it's really quite simple when you have an order to show up for court and you turn in a cut up piece of paper of it to say you're refusing to attend that this is what happens next that's pretty simple oh did that offend you no it did not offend me it was just it was a contempt of court it's aw not about anybody's personal feelings it's about the authority of the court to compel appearances and you did not appear so I do believe based upon your answers that you uh do understand the maximum penalties that you face and the rights that you have so Mr bridan uh Mr villain W indicated that you wish to plead not guilty to those uh charges of content I gather from your comments that you would agree that you're not pleading correct okay all right so we'll enter a not guilty plea on your behalf to both contemp citations we'll schedule this for a hearing where the prosecutor will present evidence and you can present evidence in your defense if you want to have an officer come testify on your behalf you can certainly do so I would like to request a trial by jury there is no right to trial by jury and a contemp man so that request would be denied okay so then there's no chance to understand what you're charging me with prior to this hearing I've told you what you charg I can read it again if you want I don't see where there's a Code or a statute or any law that I have actually violated here well that's that's not required to be on on a contempt citation I told you what the allegations are if you want me to read them to you again I will contempt charges that you're saying have changed from the first time no there are two one is the contempt for uh unauthorized practice of Law and preventing Mr Flores from meeting with his MC attorney prior to his arraign the second one is for failing to appear for the show cause hearing on that so I only show one now what is one you have and this is preventing and how did you arrive at this at a later date than to issue a bench warrant M Mr there's there's two items check mark here this is after the fact so then you added a different charge than the previous one about the same date ma he he read two charges the two charges marked here excuse me I probably have more degrees than you do okay I'm I'm going to find that that uh what I'm please judge goth sure go ahead thank you okay so the first one was that um I was practicing law that was the first one that's the show cause that you say I I failed to appear for no it was contemp for unauthorized practice of Law and preventing defendant Flores from meeting with MC attorney prior trer that what was on the original show no I have a picture of the original one this is why I'm not sure do you have a copy of that show cause in front of you right now or no one like to see what she has here I just so how do I defend hang if you do not have in front of you right now copy of the first show cause I'm happy to provide a copy to so how did you arrive at a second show cause because you didn't show up the second show cause is for filling but I wasn't on bond so both show causes are not in effect because I'm not on bond your honor what is the date of the first show calls December 20 no the December oh sorry that was before the December 20th you may view this document this is out of the court file you may view it and then judge gothier do I have any other recourse to clarify where I was on that day and the information that I was going off of by your own investigator you do you do okay that is a hearing date today we're going to schedule a hearing date and you can present that evidence at that time and how will the hearing affect a trial by jury as I told you there is no right to trial by jury for a contemp charge oh so this is a perfect nice little tidy package for everything I see okay so I can schedule this for a contempt hearing on Thursday January 11th at 2 p.m. I think that would be way too soon for me thank you why is that I need to get to some of the documentation and follow up with that um uh state trooper as well as perhaps a few other people because I'm guessing am I supposed to just talk to the prosecutor without the other witnesses that I had in my presence at the same time I could schedule this for the afternoon of Thursday January 25th then it gives you three weeks thank you so we'll schedule this for contempt hearing on both allegations of contempt on um Thursday January 25th at 2 p.m and do I understand correctly you do not wish me to appoint an attorney that you want to represent yourself and then who makes the decision you make the total decision then well no first you you make the decision whether you want to represent yourself as long as I'm convinced that you're doing so of your own free choice that you understand what's going on and that you're not going to be unduly disruptive then to represent yourself so what am I allowed to do at the hearing to defend myself appropriately you're allowed to present legal arguments you're allowed to present witnesses to testify under oath yourself or any other witnesses that you bring with you if you want to subpoena a witness if you're representing yourself you can't you can't issue a subpoena without the Court's signature an attorney can issue a subpoena on their own you want to subpoena somebody what you would do is you you You' go to the court clerk they give you the paperwork you'd fill out the subpoena they would give it to me to review and if it looks like it's reasonably you know connected or relevant to the case I would sign the subpoena and it would be given back to you for you to serve upon the person to compel their appearance I did not even get to watch the video that day cuz I was still on the phone with the trooper and then people told me after I went up for Christmas that there was maybe a bench warrant that you had issued a bench warrant but everybody looked for it online at Vin link and couldn't find any bench warrant so I was not trying to I thought that trooper had told you what she told me that I wasn't on bond so I couldn't have a show CA well well that's all going to be sorted out at the hearing okay we don't have to sort all that out well that's a lot of overnight in being arrested downtown and everything for a misunderstanding that I would like to uh rich I mean okay I get it judge B I know what happened you're not fooling me I've got a I've got the show cause that you you apparently cut up into little strips and wrot yeah but I brought it at 9:00 because that's do you know that that's actually a common law practice that's not how it works that's not how any of this works and there are courts that recognize common law because Sovereign people people and people who um take an oath of office can follow common law all right so not the St is scheduled for Thursday January 25th at 2m I find that Miss Bridgeman is unequivocally exercising her right to represent herself that she understands the nature of the charges against her the maximum penalty and the rights that she has I find that although she certainly disagrees with court procedures and processes which is her right that she's not being UND disruptive to the Court's business so uh the Court's going to recognize Miss bridgman's right to represent herself at that hearing can can I ask one question what what are the parameters that you're going to decide is practicing law versus helping somebody maintain their unalignable rights how would I delineate that in defense of myself well that that's a question of EXC that's a question of law that you can research before that day and I said I'll entertain legal arguments the prosecutor will have to prove Beyond A Reasonable Doubt at that hearing that you did in fact practice law on that date uh that's where then there's a risk to representing yourself because an attorney you know has access to uh and better training and researching the case law interpreting what that is the Michigan Supreme Court has issued some opinions about what that is if you're representing yourself you're going to have to find those on your own and and make the argument as you see fit um if you want to hire an attorney or if you want appoint an attorney they would uh they would be able to Fashion those arguments on your behalf but I'm not going to no I've been down that path before and it never turns out the way they first present themselves to you that they're going to fight the case it never turns out that way so I'm fully cognizant and aware of of that but I wanted to see what your standard was going to be it's going to be what what the law requires but I'm not sure which law you're referring to so I have to research all the laws to determine what this says that is different than the first show cause yet M Richmond if you want to represent yourself it's a little B more work I'm not saying it's not more work it's also not um presented in a way that tells me what I'm really being charged with or that anybody has any proof of what they said here so that's what I okay all right well that's what was those arguments and the and the prosecutor will present Witnesses at that hearing and you can present witnesses as I said if you desire the Court's help in compelling the appearance of any witness on your behalf submit a subpoena to the clerk's office that I would review it' be the district court office okay that I would review and I would issue The subpoena it's so so one of the key laws would be that in the state of Michigan anybody practicing law should have uh be a member of the bar association am I correct that is correct okay now you have to figure that out at another time okay now now's not time to litigate this case yeah so I I have a range but I appreciate that this is very big in scope and Michigan statutes and codes as he says he's compelled to follow or must obey the dictates okay I'm very well versed in enough constitutional things so I have to know what the the perception is there so thank you I appreciate any clarification I do have to follow what the uh any any decisions of the Michigan Supreme Court are our binding law on the lower courts under our constitutional system in Michigan also any statutes that were passed by the legislature and signed by the governor our laws that this court and all citizens of the state of Michigan have to follow so the procedure that was followed here I could still take up in another uh manner correct I'm not sure what you mean by another manner at at the hearing you can challenge the procedur of I was talking to your investigator she knew what time I had to court date yes absolutely if if you want to present that that person to come testify about that she's not going to come testify I'm sure she's down state um she might write something um well that's up to you what you want to present if you're going to presentent yourself you have to decide how you want to present your case but we here well I've given you the extra time you've asked for so this is a major judicial review okay to decide if anything in our Bill of Rights actually applies to the Michigan um code and statutes you have all the rights and Bill rights I'm g i I recognize all those constitution rights and most of what I talk about actually falls under common law because it's common that anyone could understand it oh look at that all right that's why it's called hear R you on the charges I'm going to recognize that you are exercising your right to represent yourself and discharge Mr villain AA from any further responsibility in the manner the only other question I have to decide is whether uh whether you should be released on your own recognizance whether you should be required to post a bond before the next hearing so I'm going to hear first from the prosecutor and then from you on that question Miss Miller I would object to a PR bond in this um case first because of the uh her failure to appear on December 20th um she had notice of that hearing date as she dropped off the uh show cause to the court that had that date on it um further um an underlying case that this was initially filed she um encouraged someone to not um appear for their court date or to leave the court before they were arraigned um so I do have a concern about her appearance at the next trial with next all right Miss bridan U anything you want to tell me with regard to whether I should uh allow you to be released on your own recognizance before that hearing or whether uh I showed up at 9:00 a.m. your honor and um anybody could call me if they didn't understand that uh I filed a similar document in mov County and they accepted it common law is a very acceptable kind of a standard if you know it and you know you're doing so maybe there'll be a chance that I can present some of these um other avenues because how does my country tell me to take an oath of office to defend the Constitution but then I'm held to only codes and statutes of the Michigan legislative body governor and perhaps Supreme Court that's that's the over arcing question here I think and I think a lot of people well I can the school house rock video to you about how a bill becomes a law he signed your bill now you're a law how a bill becomes a law and the laws oh I know how it happens I also know we don't have a lot of judicial review question any input Mr yes I guess I know you've just released me as as the attorney of record but I guess in in support of the bond on her behalf yes yes yes so I like to advise the court that um Miss bridan is a resident of the city of Shaban um she advised that she's a um former social studies teacher she's presently collecting uh disability so she informs me unaware of the status of if she has an automobile or anything I not aware of any known criminal history for Miss Bridgeman and she reports that she's no uh drug or alcohol issues granted there's this allegation of um not not appearing at a at a a at a previous hearing and she was picked up I believe within the uh the Shaban County for that and so I advise that you're on oh and one last thing she's politically active member in the community she has um audited an election previously so I believe you know she's more or less uh I guess committed um to this to this area this is a local municipality I you know it seems unlikely that she would go anywhere and and how she would do that and so your honor aspect you set reasonable bond for her release all right thank you well I don't I don't believe that Miss Bridgman poses any danger to Public Safety I don't think she's a Flight Risk per se of fleeing from the jurisdiction however I do believe that she's a heightened risk of just flat out refusing to appear as evidenced by the fact that she cut off the previous show cause into little strips and wrote that she wasn't accepting an offer well they an offer it was an order sorry to appear they didn't actually hand it to me refus to to appear on orders to appear by saying sorry I don't want to uh so I don't think that release on her own recognizance would be sufficient to secure her appearance so I'm going to set bond in the content matter at $110,000 cash assurity the full amount there'll be no special conditions attached to it however just the standard conditions Mr bridan that you have to make sure that we know uh if you change we have know your address contact information you can't violate any laws in the state of Michigan or any political subdivision thereof and you uh must appear for all Court appearances so the whole Bond things keeps me under your jurisdiction which I wouldn't have come into your court the same way today except that you put me in jail so I was forced to that's the bond that upet so is the struggle between keeping my oath to defend the Constitution and adhering I've taken a similar oath and I believe today Mr so we'll see you on the5th we will look at the case you can't fix stupid and thanks for joining us on fact or frauds make sure you hit the Thumbs Up Button you're subscribed and ring that Bell for notifications so the next time Premier video you can be in the live chat with everyone else and leave a comment in the comment section tell me what you think and a huge thank you to our channel members Harbert Morley Andy Chris Kelling godess of Truth exential Ang cw1 1960 Pat's Cats butcher bird Westside girl reacts Jason Eon buddy Parker and Mike if you'd like to become a member just hit that join button right next to subscribe or click on the link in the description and if you're still hanging around thank you I appreciate you all why not hit that Thumbs Up Button subscribe and ring that Bell and also leave a comment in the comment section tell me what you think if you like sport Channel hit that super thanks button until next time I'll see you soon