In New Mexico on March 3rd the founder of a Paramilitary Group that called itself the “New Mexico Civil Guard” was forced to give a deposition in a Civil lawsuit brought by the Bernalillo County District Attorney Raúl Torrez. According to the article:
Bryce Provance wore what appeared to be a Civil War era suit and overcoat when he presented himself at a law office in Albuquerque on March 3...Provance pulled out some papers and laid them on the table.
Among them was...the cover of a book by Milton William Cooper titled "Behold a Pale Horse," a 1991 work that is popular among adherents to the QAnon conspiracy theory and others harboring anti-government sentiments.
You can see where this is going. Provance refused to answer any questions and eventually spewed the standard Sovereign Citizens rhetoric:
Minutes before abruptly ending the deposition, Provance introduced a new reason for refusing to answer.
"I do not feel like commenting," he said. "I'm a free man under the Constitution. I'm not under your rules, the Bar Association's rules, and I have no knowledge of them."
However Provance did admit that he that he had been "forced from the New Mexico Civil Guard based on my past."
What was his past? Three guesses.
Facebook took down hundreds of pages yesterday in a crackdown on “movements and organizations tied to violence.” Among them was a right-wing militia...the New Mexico Civil Guard...the militia’s founder Bryce Provance sought to distance them from racism and violence in statements to the media...But court records and interviews...show his record in this regard is more extensive than has been previously reported: He spent most of his adult life as a violent and committed neo-Nazi skinhead...According to Provance, he first joined a white supremacist skinhead gang in prison at age 18. He had been convicted of residential burglary...
D*mn but thesse RWNJ’s are as perdictable as the sun rising and setting (but why do these Neo-Nazi b*stards always end up starting off in my home state. Oy!)
Apparently lawsuits against these seditionist thugs are effective.
Torrez said an immediate outcome of the case is that the New Mexico Civil Guard has been more subdued since the complaint was filed.
The NMCG Facebook account...was deleted by the platform...And the group's appearances have been smaller and infrequent.
More Attorneys General should follow the lead of DA Torres and the SPLC. Because when groups who push this racist anti-government bullsh*t are called out and brought befoe a jury this happens:
Charlottesville, Virginia (CNN) A jury has awarded more than $26 million in damages after finding the White nationalists who organized and participated in a violent 2017 rally here liable on a state conspiracy claim and other claims.