Opinion
Criminal Case No. 10-cr-00317-REB-02
04-05-2012
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. 2. RICHARD KELLOGG ARMSTRONG, Defendant.
Judge Robert E. Blackburn
ORDER STRIKING DEFENDANT'S NOTICES
Blackburn, J.
The matter is before me on the following: (1) the NOTICE Notice of Tender for Setoff [#455]; (2) NOTICE Notice of Tender for Setoff And Request Regarding a Statement of Account [#456]; (3) the NOTICE Notice Conditional Acceptance of Attorney [#457]; and (4) the NOTICE Notice Conditional Acceptance of Attorney [#458]. All four of these unauthorized notices were filed on April 3, 2012, by defendant, Richard Kellogg Armstrong. I strike the notices.
As I have done assiduously during the time that Mr. Armstrong has represented himself, I construe his papers liberally. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 127 S. Ct. 2197, 2200, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007); Andrews v. Heaton, 483 F.3d 1070, 1076 (10th Cir. 2007); Hall v. Belmon, 935 F.2d 1106, 1110 (10th Cir. 1991) (citing Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21 (1972)). However, these notices are legally feckless. None raises any substantive issue of any legal import. Try as I may, I can not torture either of his notices [#457] and/or [#458] enough to recharacterize them as motions for the appointment of counsel.
At least as early as the proceedings on April 7, 2011, I admonished and instructed Mr. Armstrong, to cease and desist from filing notices in lieu of motions. I reiterated this requirement in the order I entered on May 17, 2011, in the order I entered June 10, 2011, in the order I entered November 28, 2011, and in the order I entered January 12, 2012. See Order [#235] at 6-7, ¶ 3.a.; Order [#251] at 4-5, ¶ 7; Order [364] at 2, ¶ 2.a.; and Order [395] at 3, ¶ 4.a. Notwithstanding, Mr. Armstrong filed the four "notices" described above. Thus, his notices will be stricken as violative of my oral and written orders.
Additionally, I will issue a separate, second Order To Show Cause, requiring Mr. Armstrong to show cause in writing by a date certain why he should not be found guilty of contempt of court and punished accordingly. Finally, I will reiterate and asseverate my orders that Mr. Armstrong cease and desist from filing notices in lieu of motions and that he not file any additional pretrial motions or papers without advance leave of this court.
I entered the first Order To Show Cause [#378] on December 16, 2011.
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. That the unauthorized NOTICE Notice of Tender for Setoff [#455] filed April 3, 2012, is STRICKEN;
2. That the unauthorized NOTICE Notice of Tender for Setoff And Request Regarding a Statement of Account [#456] filed April 3, 2012, is STRICKEN;
3. That the unauthorized NOTICE Notice Conditional Acceptance of Attorney [#457] filed April 3, 2012, is STRICKEN;
4. That the unauthorized NOTICE Notice Conditional Acceptance of Attorney [#458] filed April 3, 2012, is STRICKEN; and
5. That once again the defendant, Richard Kellogg Armstrong, subject to the penalties for contempt of court:
I rehearsed those penalties for Mr. Armstrong in the Order To Show Cause [#378] entered December 16, 2011, and during the contempt advisement proceedings I conducted on January 24, 2012. See Courtroom Minutes [#404] at 4.
a. shall not file any paper as a "notice" (as opposed to and distinguished from a "motion") without advance leave of the court; and
b. shall not file any pretrial motion or other paper without advance leave of the court.
This order does not prohibit or enjoin Mr. Armstrong from filing a motion seeking leave of the court to file a motion or other paper in this case.
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Dated April 5, 2012, at Denver, Colorado.
BY THE COURT:
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Robert E. Blackburn
United States District Judge