A Capitol riot defendant who threatened to hang Nancy Pelosi said she didn't need an attorney because she was divinely immune from the court's laws
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A Capitol riot suspect said she didn't need a lawyer because she's a "self-governed individual."
Prosecutors say that while inside the Capitol, Pauline Bauer said she wanted to hang Nancy Pelosi.
Now, Bauer is claiming to have special legal privileges.
A Pennsylvania pizzeria owner arrested and charged in connection to the January 6 Capitol attack demanded the removal of "any and all" defense attorneys on her behalf, arguing that she is a divine entity immune from the court's laws.
Prosecutors say Pauline Bauer was among the hundreds of pro-Trump protesters who broke into the US Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to halt the certification of Joe Biden's election victory. Court documents say Bauer attempted to organize mass transportation to bus people to Washington for the Trump rally that preceded the attack and, once inside the building, told the police she wanted to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"Bring Nancy Pelosi out here right now," Bauer can be heard saying on body-camera footage from inside the Capitol Rotunda, according to prosecutors. "We want to hang that f---ing b----."
Now, in a series of bizarre court filings made late last month, Bauer is insisting on representing herself and is claiming to have special legal privileges as a "self-governed individual."
A court-appointed lawyer for Bauer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
In a Zoom court appearance on June 11, Bauer told the judge she was attending "by special divine appearance," according to The Daily Beast.
"I do not stand under the law," Bauer said, according to the outlet. "Under Genesis 1, God gave man dominion over law."
Bauer was later removed from that video proceeding "due to her inability to show qualm and decency to the Court," records show. She was ordered to appear again in person later that month.
But at a June 21 hearing, Bauer refused to accept the conditions of her release and was jailed overnight as a result, court documents say. She was later released on personal recognizance after verbally agreeing to the required pretrial-release conditions.
Days later, she submitted several filings full of far-right conspiracy theories, mounting an apparent "sovereign citizens" defense. Subscribers to the pseudoscience movement believe that "they - not judges, juries, law enforcement or elected officials - should decide which laws to obey and which to ignore," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In one filing, Bauer included a "Patent of Nativity," a document that she claimed was "proof" that her "living DNA existed on this land before there was a United States of America or Any STATE Thereof." The document includes a detailed genealogy of both her mother's and father's ancestry.
Among the filed documents, Bauer also demanded corrections be made to court documents in her case file.
Bauer is set to head back to court in person later this month. She faces charges of obstructing justice and Congress; knowingly entering a restricted building; knowingly engaging in disorderly conduct in a restricted building; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
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