The jury trial of a Marion County man acting as his own attorney was set to begin last Wednesday in Baxter County Circuit Court, but 44-year-old Donald Hoyt, III pled no contest to the drug related charge against him instead.
He was sentenced to five years probation.
Last Tuesday, Circuit Judge John Putman denied a motion filed by Hoyt to dismiss his case. The motion contained references to pseudo law and odd quasi legal language.
Hoyt listed nine grounds for dismissal. Judge Putman’s order went through each one of the points and found little or no merit in most.
A hearing on the motion to dismiss was held December 4.
SOVEREIGN CITIZENS
In documents he has filed, Hoyt uses many phrases and terms that are often found in documents prepared and filed by adherents of a group known as Sovereign Citizens, or by those with access to the group’s material.
The “legal claims” often come closer to reflecting the offbeat beliefs of the group rather than established law.
CLAIMS NO JURISDICTION
In his motion to dismiss, for example, Hoyt said no contract exists which puts him in the court’s jurisdiction. He also claims that “every person is independent of all laws except those prescribed by nature.”
State laws and policies “are for corporations and not for people. I’m a living, breathing human being and not a corporate entity and have a certified copy of live birth that proves I’m alive,” Hoyt writes.
According to studies, the Universal Commercial Code is of special significance to Sovereign Citizens. Groups that study anti-government organizations point out that Sovereign Citizens will often put UCC 1-308 under their signatures.
They believe that if used on a document it will not allow the document to become a contract with what they see as an illegitimate government. The contract would make the Sovereign Citizen subject to the jurisdiction of the illegitimate government.
In one document filed in his dismissal effort, Hoyt did include the notation UCC 1-308 under his signature. The section has been renumbered but the former designation continues to be used by Sovereign Citizens.
TRAFFIC STOP ARREST
The charges in Hoyt’s case stem from a traffic stop February 8, 2022. He was pulled over by an Arkansas State Trooper on U.S. Highway 62/412. The trooper said the vehicle had been speeding, crossed over the centerline and had a broken windshield.
When the trooper contacted Hoyt, he is reported to have been “extremely nervous.”
The trooper reported that when he contacted his dispatcher, he was told Hoyt had an active warrant issued in Marion County for a probation violation. After the warrant was confirmed, Hoyt was arrested, according to the probable cause affidavit.
During an inventory of the Dodge pickup truck Hoyt was driving, the trooper reported locating three plastic bags containing a substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine. There were other charges initially filed against Hoyt but the state dismissed them.
Hoyt has had criminal cases opened on him in Marion County, most have been dismissed for one reason or another, according to electronic court records.
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