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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

‘Paper Terrorism’ Again Shutters Spokane Court

SPOKANE, Wash. (CN) — The third floor of the Spokane County Courthouse was evacuated Wednesday after another batch of suspicious letters was mailed to a judge and a prosecutor.

The letters that arrived on July 20 are believed to be connected to an inmate in the Spokane County Jail, Christopher Allen Cain, also known as Christopher Cain Bey, who was also involved in suspicious letters sent on July 7. Cain is believed to be part of the "Sovereign Citizen" movement, which believes its followers can choose which laws to obey and are not obligated to pay taxes, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Both sets of letters sent to the Spokane County Courthouse contained "irritants" that led to building evacuations and hazmat teams. However, Wednesday's letters only lead to a partial evacuation of the building, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said.

The July 7 letters led to a full evacuation of the entire courthouse building and access streets were blocked. Testing of those letters came back negative for toxins.

Knezovich said minimizing the response by only evacuating the third floor of the courthouse on Wednesday meant that the sender didn't "get the disruption they wanted."

"This act is, by definition, not considered terrorism, but actually this is what Sovereign Citizens do," Knezovich told reporters. "These people commit paper terrorism by inundating the courts with reports and materials that are suspicious."

Knezovich said he would be having a "long talk" with Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell over what charges could be filed against Cain and his accomplices in relation to the letters.

"If you commit an act to disrupt the public safety services, there should be a charge for that," Knezovich said.

Cain is being held in the Spokane County Jail on charges related to a drive-by shooting and assault case. Cain has also filed a civil case against Spokane County, declaring himself to be a Washitaw Moor and renouncing his U.S. Citizenship. He claims that Spokane County is wrongfully trying to take his private property in relation to the criminal charges against him.

Knezovich said he believes the two sets of letters this month are being sent by Cain's supporters, who "don't like that he is in jail." Knezovich said he also received a letter from Cain three weeks before the courthouse letters started arriving, and that it looked like the letter was "signed in blood."

"When I received the letter, we treated it as a possible bio hazard and did testing," he said. Test results showed the letter was only signed with red ink.

All courthouse employees who handled the letters have been medically evaluated and released to return to full duty, according to courthouse security staff.

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