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During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. — George Orwell
Make life worth dying for. — Rock Solomon
This is a book that had to be written. Roger's supporters have implored him for years to write a book and he was always "too busy." I have written it truly and accurately to the best of my ability. Everything in the book has been freely stated by Roger Weidner many times to many people on many occasions. The numerous people charged in this book with duplicity, treachery, corruption, racketeering, fraud, murder and treason have been so charged on the record in court and do not deny any of the charges.
The Weidner Method is written in first person, Roger Weidner. Roger dictated it, in a jumbled sort of way. Words and phrases not dictated verbatim by Roger amount to, cumulatively, less than half a page. The spellings of the many surnames are Roger's spellings. Six years of research and 8 months of labor went into the creation of this work. It is extracted and compiled from lengthy interviews with Roger beginning in 1999, public records and public knowledge, newspaper articles, eyewitness accounts and personal experience. Roger cooperated with me fully throughout the project and never opposed it in any way. He willingly submitted to interviews again and again and commended me for disrupting my life to get the word out.
I have read the entire manuscript to Roger and he approved it all the way through, telling me repeatedly that it was "tremendous." The corrections he offered were few and minor.
Writing this book was like unraveling a mystery. It was like someone dumping thousands of puzzle pieces on a table and saying, "Put it together." Through my 6 ½ years of communication with Roger Weidner, including 4 years of in-person association, I was able to gain a vague grasp of the big picture, enabling me to attempt this book. It is the result of that time and energy. It is entirely at my own expense that it has been conceived, researched and brought to completion.
It is my view that this information is of legitimate public concern. The public has a right to know. Therefore, I am offering The Weidner Method free of charge and I encourage the copying and dissemination of it.
mailto:hhammond2007@hotmail.com
To everyone, who has the courage to go into the courtroom and fight for what is right and good and true and honorable, this book is dedicated.
It is my hope that Americans in every county in the country will converge upon their courthouses and use The Weidner Method to fight any kind of case.
The courts control the money and the judge controls the cops. Therefore, you have to neutralize that judge. — Roger Weidner
Throughout my 20 years of research about government corruption The Weidner Method is the first solution I have ever encountered. If nothing else, it will expose duplicity and make the entire community aware of it, a necessary first step.
Government child-snatching, IRS extortion, voting fraud, government racketeering, health food laws, lawyer malpractice, property taxes, the necessity for citizen oversight of government agencies, unlawfully mandated 501(c)3 non-profit status for churches, the unlawfully mandated driver's license for sovereign citizens, lack of protective tariffs, overwhelming imports, mind control, national security abuses, land rights, heavy-handed cops, unlawful search and seizure, conflicts of interest, federal funding of abuses, Federal Reserve audit, freedom of worship, poisoning of the air, land and water through chemicals in the water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides and chemtrails, multi-vitamin labeling that doesn't include absorption rate or info that nutrients are synthetic, issues concerning hybridized seeds, public schools, taxes, too much government, alloidal ownership of land, regulation of industry which should emanate from the people not the federal government, unlawful and unConstitutitonal laws and statutes, lawyers holding office (13th amendment), any and all ways in which our Constitutional rights are being denied-all these and countless other issues can be addressed in the courtroom using The Weidner Method.
The government should be formed from the bottom up in cells of 10 families as described in the writings of Kelly Hoskins, author of the Hoskins Report. Senators should again be elected by state Legislatures, illegal aliens should be incarcerated, deported and the borders sealed, no more foreign aid, fractional reserve banking should be outlawed, debtfree money should be issued by the Congress, solar technology, which was running factories 100 years ago, should be unsuppressed, natural healing should be unsuppressed, the truth should be unsuppressed, return of the media to the private sector and countless other issues can be addressed in the courtroom using the The Weidner Method.
According to history, when a nation is in transition from one form of government to a different type of government, as we are now (making the transition from freedom to enslavement) there is a point in the struggle, a section of time, during which it could go either way. I believe we are presently teetering on that brink.
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Oh, you're gonna fight 'em, eh Roger? This oughta be interesting. — Judge Chuck Wnasso
Chapter One............................1
Chapter Two............................9
Chapter Three...........................16
Chapter Four..........................26
Chapter Five...........................32
Chapter Six.............................38
Chapter Seven............................43
Chapter Eight.............................53
Chapter Nine..........................60
Chapter Ten............................67
Chapter Eleven..........................71
Chapter Twelve..........................75
Chapter Thirteen...........................81
Chapter Fourteen..........................88
Chapter Fifteen..........................94
Chapter Sixteen.........................102
"Let him speak! Let him speak!" All the people in the courtroom were yelling. There were 65+ cops in and around the building and snipers on the surrounding rooftops.
"This courtroom is closed!" BANG went the gavel and Judge Dorothy Baker ran down the stairs back into her chambers. Dorothy Baker looks like a spawned out singer in some downtown flophouse bar. Mid-to-late forties, heavy smoker, very lined face. She has a wasted look to her.
"The courtroom is NOT closed! People do not leave this courtroom!" I said, and began speaking on the record about all this corruption, while Judge Baker hid in her chambers.
All of a sudden the door to the jury room opens up. It reminded me of when I was a kid, down at the coast. There was a kind of a fish, a flounder fish, a perch. It gave birth to live babies. They'd sorta spurt out, one, then another and so on. I looked up and-pop, then pop, pop-12 red-faced police officers had been hiding in the jury room. In single file they emerged from the jury room, silently, and walked out the courtroom exit. Everything stopped and everybody watched. They thought this terrorist was going to take over, but we were very orderly people sitting there, and me speaking.
About that time Judge Baker re-entered the courtroom all disheveled, looking like she'd been shot out of a cannon.
"I want to make a record here," I said. I had all my files.
"I'm canceling the hearing to have you examined to see if you can aid and assist in your own defense," Baker responded.
"No! I want to make a recor-" I was forced down, face down, on the council table by the guards. They put the handcuffs on behind me. My 82-year-old Mother started toward us.
"You stay back or you'll get arrested too!" the guards warned her as I was hustled out of there. Baker fled the courtroom amid shouts from the crowd.
"You're gonna pay for this Baker! This is tyranny!" said investigative reporter Ed Snook as he left the courtroom.
I am at war with this corruption and any time you're at war it is always a tactical operation. If it becomes solely an emotional reaction you cannot organize and you can't plan. For most of the people I'm involved with, it's emotional, because something has been taken-their children, their lands, their money-and they're distressed.
The following is a description of the players, how they all got involved, these events that occurred and how this all came about.
Milton Brown, this little thieving attorney, is the core of the cancer. He told attorney Nick Albrecht that he went to law school to learn how to steal, the little viper. He's wiped out every partner he's ever had, at least 10, and many tenants. He's amassed a fortune of between 3 and 4 hundred million dollars simply by being able to control the legal system. He implicates someone who is in the system. He has completely corrupted the state government.
There is a good-'ol-boy network that has existed for years. Brown was looked at as a pariah even by that group. You couldn't find a person that had anything other than contempt for Milton Brown. He used to work out down at the Y where he wore these pooka shells around his neck, and copper bracelets. He's about 5 foot 6 or 7, nervous little voice, he's so crooked that he cannot look you in the face. He controls all this money and if you control money, in our system, you control everything. Attorney Milton Brown was Don Kettleberg's partner. Together they owned 35 million dollars worth of property. Kettleberg confided to friends that he knew if he tried to dissolve the partnership he would be wiped out.
When Don Kettleberg met Janette Kent she was 22 and he was 45. He was attracted to Janette because she was young, she was beautiful, she was intelligent and accomplished, she was not jealous and possessive, and for a guy like Kettleberg it was ideal. Don had been a womanizer. He had a lot of other girlfriends but Janette Kent was unique. She was a good cook, a pianist, she was teaching piano and she's a tremendous ice skater. Because of her personality Don could come and go as he pleased. There was no suspicion on her part about Kettleberg because she just lives in her own little world. He took care of her apartment and her expenses and they had a long 10 or 12 year affair.
Janette has a very unusual personality. She wrote a multi-national nuclear disarmament agreement when she was in her early twenties. She excerpted parts of many other proposals written by many scientists and came up with her own proposal. Then she formed this group called Mission: World Peace and she was going to save the world, solve the world's problems, solve the danger of nuclear annihilation. She was very naïve. She thought that if her plan was not implemented all humanity was at risk. She was young and attractive and she'd go out and speak to these groups and men always make over young attractive women! Obviously! And so she thought what she was writing was great though she had only plagiarized all of these world-renowned scientific scholars. But it was her nuclear proposal and she became totally committed to it. I think Kettleberg humored her and went along with it.
Janette had split up with Don about a year and a half before he died. There were accusations back and forth. Another man had become involved, Mark Maxin, who was 30 years younger than Kettleberg. He was attracted to Janette and fomented the split. He lived in the same apartment complex they did when he was about 12-years-old so they took on a kind of parenting relationship with him but he was only 10 years younger than Janette. All of a sudden young boy 12 turns into young man 18, 19 and he's enamored with Janette and Janette is mentally more in league with Mark Maxin then with Don Kettleberg.
Kettleberg had a drinking problem and cirrhosis of the liver. He had a very rough complexion so he was getting derma brasion treatments. Dr. Charles Hahn was his treating doctor. Doctor Hahn was also his business partner in Battleground Mobile Home Park in Battleground, WA. He owed Kettleberg about $50,000 in what is called your capital account. Hahn owned a third and Kettleberg owned two thirds of that one mobile home park.
When you are partners like that and the partnership has expenses, then each partner has a capital account that they have to keep filled in order to meet the needs of the development enterprise. Hahn was down about $50,000 in his capital account. He was behind on payments and Kettleberg was putting up his money for him. Hahn was always pressed for money because of his living style. Like most doctors, they have a girlfriend and they have a nice home, a Mercedes and all these toys and so they're always tapped out.
Kettleberg knew he was terminal in early 1985. In discussions with Jack Blampe, former business partner of Brown and Kettleberg, Jack believed that Hahn was injecting Don with a toxin to aggravate his failing liver condition and speed up the process. Later, we acquired Kettleberg's medical records and discovered one of the last entries written there by Dr. Hahn.
"Do not resuscitate."
Brown didn't think there was anyone out there because Kettleberg had been adopted and he was not married. However, he had an adopted sister named Doreen Moriarty. Kettleberg was terminal so the Moriartys were called. I don't know whether they arrived in time to see him still alive or not. They came up to Portland within a few days of his death and moved into his house up in Mountain Park thinking that, since there was no one else, Doreen Moriarty would inherit the estate. Doreen's husband was a city councilman in one of the cities down in the Los Angeles area. He owned a fireworks business down there and he got caught on a kickback scheme bribing the inspectors to look the other way. He was being tried for some criminal charges and was on his way to prison at the time.
Kettleberg died May 25th, 1985. Four days later on May 29th Carolyn Brune, Brown's secretary and alter ego, as the Personal Representative of the Kettleberg estate, gave Brown Kettleberg's power of attorney. Carolyn Brune was not made Personal Representative until at least a month later. With that power of attorney, fraudulently given and fraudulently obtained, Brown cleaned out all Kettleberg's bank accounts, safety deposit box and picked up all other Kettleberg estate assets. Carolyn Brune is a physically attractive woman, 45, blonde hair, very mindful of her attractiveness and plays on that. Reportedly, she was a play toy for Don Kettleberg. She was working for Milton Brown, on his payroll. Legally, Carolyn Brune could not give her boss power of attorney over an estate of which she was not personal representative. Brown just had her do it, as if she was.
The Moriartys cleaned out all they could of the personal property from the house and tried to find other property. One of the daughters took Don's car and they went around and picked up all the assets that they could. They were looking for money to keep Doreen's husband out of prison. When people are stressed for money you can control them with very little. That's how Brown operates and he's a master at it.
It was decided that Doreen Moriarty would be the personal representative of the estate, but there were liens and judgments against her husband. They found out that if she was personal representative her husband's creditors would be able to get the assets. So, she resigned in order to have everything passed to her children so there would be no claims and her children's inheritance could be protected. The Moriartys returned to California.
Milton Brown put Carolyn Brune in as the personal representative of the Kettleberg estate. He got her appointed by a judge. Carolyn Brune denies that. She says Doreen Moriarty was the one who agreed to have her appointed personal representative. But it's all controlled by Milton Brown. With money he controls everything. They decided on a value for the estate and Brune posted a 3 million dollar performance bond, guaranteeing her services and accepting liability.
Brown first started out with attorney Bob Chidester, who is a no one in the legal community. He was a flunkie for Milton Brown. He did any work that Brown didn't want to handle, pick-up-crumbs sort of a thing. He was brought in for that purpose. Chidester had a drinking problem and was not a strong personality at all. Milton Brown and Carolyn Brune were just going to run this thing through the system, with Carolyn Brune as the personal representative and Chidester as the attorney for the estate. She and Bob did everything that Brown wanted. They figured it would be easy because there was no one around. It was going to be Carolyn Brune and Milton Brown taking down that whole estate.
Kettleberg was 57 when he died and Janette was 35. She was in Salt Lake and although they were split up they were still in touch with one another. Don was supposed to get back to her. When he didn't contact her she started looking around and found out he was dead. She thought he had died in a car accident. She called Gary Michaels, a local architect and friend of Kettleberg, to ask what he knew about Don. He hadn't heard that Kettleberg had died. He'd had dinner with Kettleberg a few months earlier at which time Kettleberg confided to him that he had written a will.
"Well did you get a copy of the will?" Michaels asked Janette.
"No," she said. Janette was not looking for the will. She was simply looking for her pictures with Kettleberg. Memorabilia. She did not know that she had been named.
"Well, I'll go down and check because Don told me he left everything to you." So Gary Michaels went down and found out that the estate was being probated as an intestacy, meaning, without a will. Gary phoned Janette.
"You better get an attorney. I think I smell a rat." That was in late summer of 1985 and that's when she hired attorney Farris Booth.
Brown knew there was no way the Moriartys could mount an attack to do what I'm doing, try to recover the Kettleberg estate, because her husband was already a crook and was on his way to prison. They came up looking for money to keep their appeal process going. They were going through the house, stripping it of valuables. There was no way that they could ever even begin to penetrate the fraud.
When the Moriartys returned in October of 1985 Brown fired Chidester. He thought there might be a challenge so he knew he couldn't use Chidester. He didn't want to lose any more assets so he hired Guy Marshall. Guy Marshall was in the firm of Tooze\ Kerr\Marshall, which had been Tooze\Kerr\Peterson. The Peterson was Ed Peterson, Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Marshall was found guilty of defrauding a client and there was a lot of heat on him. That case was in progress before Brown contacted him but it made no difference to Brown because Brown always wants someone who is crooked. Those are the only people he will deal with! However, once Guy Marshall was convicted, his partner Michael Gentry came in and has been there now for 16 years protecting the theft, ostensibly as the attorney for the estate. Marshall was named first but he went to jail. The Tooze\Kerr\Marshall firm came onboard at that time though and they have been there ever since. I think it's Tooze\Kerr\Schenker now. Marshall is off the marquee.
Brown also got attorney Gar King, who is now a US District Court judge, to represent Dr. Charles Hahn, Kettleberg's personal physician and business partner. Brown drew in these attorneys of good repute early on. They thought there would be quick money. Gar King is in his early sixties. Dapper looking guy. He makes the impression that he knows what's going on. But he's controlling and treacherous as they come.
Once Milton Brown got them, he exposed them to his liability, because the act of one is the act of all. This is what people do not understand. When you have a conspiracy or a theft, the act of one is the act of all. By implicating attorneys and judges he exposes them to his liability. But they had to be giving the appearance that they were conducting lawful proceedings.
There is a money cartel that is the ruling elite in Oregon state. It was told to me by a former Multnomah County commissioner that Brown is related to some of the members of that money cartel. His real name is Bronstein, Milton Bronstein. It's not Brown. This money elite basically controls everything. They control the media here, The Oregonian, Oregon's largest newspaper and they control all of the courts. They do not have a name. They are not an open organization. They've controlled the court systems for about 20 years. They're a powerful enough entity to threaten, blackmail or pay off judges and attorneys. The judges are not put in there unless they pass political muster with this money elite, who put in their preferred politicians, all of our politicians from Hatfield on and back further than that. If you're not approved by that group you are never allowed into the system. Anyone that gets into the system and does not go along with the operation that they've set up, the power structures that they've set up, is forced out. They always control the courtroom because, in a commercial culture such as ours, that's where all the wealth is controlled. Milton Bronstein or Brown knew he could control it because he knows who's calling the shots and he's close to them.
Vera Katz is the present mayor. Prior to this she became state Representative into the House and then BINGO! She became Speaker of the House in Salem. During her tenure as the Speaker of the House all this New World Order legislation came out, this goals 2000. She went from being the Speaker to being the mayor of Portland. Mayor is considered a step up from Speaker of the House because it includes a staff. She controls the police department as the mayor and she controls all the agencies. Vera Katz and Beverly Stein, who's the Chair of the County Commissioners, are cut of that same mold as is state senator Kate Brown. They're all ardent feminists. They are simply implementing this total control regimen that has all of us by the throat. They control the administrative and they control the executive agencies.
I went on inactive status with the Oregon State Bar in the beginning of 1987 so I'd been on inactive status for almost a year. When you are on inactive status you don't have to pay those malpractice insurance premiums. I had taken a year off, kinda like a sabbatical. I wanted to go down and see Krishna Murti's home. I'd just been stressed out. They'd foreclosed on an apartment house and I was in the process of losing my houseboat. There was a lot of stress on me so I'd taken this time off.
December of 1987 when I was just about getting ready to go back on active status, I met Janette Kent socially at Lido's restaurant at 11th and Stark. I stopped in there one evening and she was there. She said she was the heiress of the Don Kettleberg estate. Kettleberg had died suddenly 2 ½ years before and he had left no living relatives. There were reports by witnesses that Kettleberg had left her the estate but when they went to the safety deposit box it was empty. Everything had been cleaned out. She told me briefly about her case and asked if I would help. I knew who Milton Brown was and I knew he was a pariah in the legal community because he had this horrible reputation of being so corrupt. I didn't know him well but I knew he was a crook. I knew Kettleberg slightly. I'd talked to him a couple of times. I said I'd check into it.
One of the names that she gave me was Gary Michaels, who was a local architect that I knew. He was a partner of a fellow that lived down at the Portland Rowing Club and he also worked out at the Y so I saw him there from time to time.
I was hired in December of 1987. Janette had not personally been to court but she had hired investigators to monitor some hearing that pertained to the case and she had hired Farris Booth, a prominent attorney. I knew him as an instructor in law school and I had the highest regard for him. He was a member of one of the largest, very prominent law firms, Higgins, Booth and someone else. When he got involved with Kent he acknowledged that Brown was a crook but soon he was trying to undermine her case. Kent's witness Glen Haddock said Booth slept while his deposition was being taken.
"Yeah, you got a good attorney," I would have said. I didn't realize he had become a crook. Farris Booth got turned by Brown. He was in the pocket of Brown already. Her investigators were Ken Keller, a former District Attorney, and another fellow from a regular firm. They were reporting that Farris Booth was sleeping during the depositions and that he was lying to her. Booth was making representations to her about what was going on and she, through her investigators, found out that it was not so. Booth supplied her with one set of documents and through the investigators she had another. One set that he presented to her said this is what the evidence shows and he represented that to be the fact. The investigators came up with another set that showed that he'd deleted portions of it and he'd altered and fabricated it. She was back in Salt Lake when one of her investigators told her that she better fire Booth because he was working against her out here.
And so she returned to Portland and confronted Booth out at the Tai Peng restaurant, the Chinese restaurant out by Tigard. He claimed health conditions and financial stress to mask his treachery and duplicity. He embraced and kissed her and tried to romance her. Janette thinks that everyone is in love with her anyway. She has no problem with vanity or self-image. She thinks she's a goddess. It's amazing how delusional people can be. But, she didn't fall for his con job. She fired him. She then went to another one or 2 attorneys and they would express interest then they would turn and betray her. I was about the 3rd or 4th. When I met her she'd been on this odyssey for about a year and a half. Brown was systematically buying off every one of her attorneys. Brown never approached me because I know him, that little thieving viper. I knew what a horrible reputation he had. And I had known Don Kettleberg.
Janette Kent is well educated, she has an academic bent, good learning skills and she can express herself well. But she has very distinct personalities when they lock into a mode. She can be like a little girl. She would go down to Oaks Park and get on the rides with the kids.
"Whee-ee-ee-ee!" She's childlike. Then she can turn around and walk up onto the stage, sophisticated, intelligent, serious and give a well-researched address on nuclear arms.
She has no idea of what's going on around her and when you try to explain something to her, over and over again, you can see it's just not penetrating. It does not penetrate. She cannot understand something that she has not actually experienced. And even when she has experienced it, if it is in conflict with her favored perceptions, she will reject it. Kent would have temper tantrums. At times she'd get me in the car and start carrying on and I'd have to reach over and turn off the key to stop the car because it was so ungodly to have this creature there, just roaring. Another time she'd be throwing things at me because she has this frustration and this enormous rage that she's not being given what she's entitled to.
"I wonder some times why he'd get so mad he'd put his fist through the wall?" she told me now and then about Kettleberg. Well I know very well why he would do that! But to her it didn't even click. If a concept is not in her head it does not exist. Egocentric, she sees herself right at the center of her world. Everything radiates outward from there. In her perception she is always right whenever she speaks, like any other spoiled child. They have no patience because they're indulged. They think that whatever they think is what is important. She would drink a lot too. Heavy boozer. She would get delusional and could not be responsive to questions and her temperament was such that she had no ability to sit back and listen to something being discussed if she was not in charge. Always, she had to be the center of activity.
Being as close to her as I was under the circumstances, I realized someone has to take on the adult role of seeing that something gets done. An adult role does not mean that you have your way. An adult role means there is a goal that you're trying to achieve. Your focus is on achieving that goal. Everything you do you do out of the necessity of achieving that goal, with the actors that you have available, as in a military campaign. To my horror, what I have found out is that you have to deal with the emotional upheavals of every one of your soldiers. They have to vent that someplace and they want to vent it on whoever is the nearest to them, just like a spoiled child kicking and having a temper tantrum.
I'm accustomed to being in the military and responding when the sergeant shouts.
"Fall out! Fall in! Grab your arms!" My response is not in opposition.
"NO!! I'm not going out there!" Off you go to the brigade! You are kicked out because you're not emotionally capable and that applies to virtually everyone in this war that I'm in.
"People, I'm at war with this corruption that's going on. It has us by the throat!" I tell them.
The rules of law that I learned in law school, that I've studied, that I know exist, the very concept upon which our whole culture is based, which is unique in the history of the world, is that the citizens are the sovereign authority of this country. Under the Constitution, before a government agency can do something to a person, they have to give that person equal protection of the law and due process of law. It's not optional for them. Fair hearing. Impartial judge. That has been stripped out of the system. It does not exist. And to make people get over this idea that-
"nnnnnnn that's MINE! NO! NUH!"
"People, listen. I don't care what you think. THEY'VE GOT IT!" And the only way they're going to give it back is like when a wolf, if he has your little baby?
"C'mon wolf," you say. "Give it back, ple-e-a-a-se wolf? I've worked hard all my life wolf. I worked to raise that baby."
.and you think he's going to give it back? No! You go over with a club and a blow torch and a pair of pliers and you put so much pain on that creature that is stealing something of yours, so that it is such a shock, it's causing him so much pain, that the pain of keeping it is greater then the pain of cutting it loose. And that applies across the board to all animal life. It applies to people too. We started as a colony and what has happened here is that the money powers have been able to completely reassert control over their colonies.
I thought that my difficulty would be in getting Kent declared the beneficiary. There was a question as to whether or not Janette was the sole beneficiary of the estate and I was having trouble finding an attorney that would take the case. I couldn't fight it because I was still on inactive status. First I went to Marvin Nepom, a prominent attorney here in Portland.
"No, I'm too busy," he said.
Then I called Jack Kennedy, who was the partner of Gar King, another prominent attorney in town. I'd had him as an instructor at North Western University and he was very strict. His students were not to be writing one minute overtime on a test. He was watching, making sure. They would impose this moral ethic on the students that they professed with such fervor and, of course, I believed that it was so. Little did I know!
He put me off to Gary McMurry, whom I knew slightly, and I got McMurry to try it. Gary McMurry was an accomplished trial attorney but he wouldn't spend any money on the case at all. He said he wouldn't do it unless I stayed in it and did all the legwork on it.
Gary McMurry was in his late 50's at the time. He looks like a gray-haired owl to me. He has this little beaky nose, glasses, and speaks very perfunctorily. He's very mechanical, extremely opinionated and egotistical but he is a good trial attorney. I've known the guy for 30 years. McMurry said he was only concerned about the probate, not about going after Brown. There was 4½ half million dollars in the estate at that time. McMurry wanted his fee based only on the 4½ million, not the other assets. He later tried to get Janette to settle for $100,000.
The case went to court in May of 1988. This first case was simply to decide whether or not she was the beneficiary. I thought the difficult issue would be to make Kent credible. She was so distraught that she could not be responsive to questions. I have never met anyone more frustrating to work with in my life. She was very naïve and idealistic, spoiled and indulged by Kettleberg.
"You've got to do, Janette, whatever McMurry says in that courtroom," I said over and over again.
"Gary, I've lost control of Janette. I befriended her and she doesn't pay any attention to what I'm saying any more. I don't know that I can control her. That's one thing that I cannot guarantee," I told her attorney Gary McMurry.
"Oh, don't worry Roger," he said. "I'll take care of that," he assured me as he looked over his glasses with an all-knowing smugness. And then I saw him with her in his conference room. She was saying something and he, through gritted teeth, had his fist clenched.
"You SHUT UP or I.!" And another time I spotted him walking across the park with her and he takes his briefcase and slams it down.
"NO, damn it!" he's saying to her. He didn't have it in control. At last I was able to assure him.
"Gary, she will answer questions. I've got her so she'll be responsive." That was a big question mark, whether I could get her to be responsive. At trial time she got up on the stand and was able to speak. Gary Michaels, the architect, was what you call a star witness. Absolute integrity and good recall, a professionally recognized and respected member of the community. He said it all, that he'd met with Kettleberg, that Kettleberg knew he was terminal and had left everything to Janette. The other witnesses were all solid. Brown was a basket case. After stammering through his testimony he had to rest 3 times before leaving the courtroom. The first time, leaning on Kent's table, ashen-faced, he uttered in a weak, barely audible voice.
"Hi Jenny."
All Brown's witnesses were totally discredited, so she won. She was awarded the entire estate, worth $35,000,000 at the time, by judge Crookham. Personal Representative Carolyn Brune filed an appeal.
Crookham has a basic integrity to him. It would have been very easy for him to rule against Kent. He went on to become the Attorney General of the state of Oregon for awhile. I believe he was appointed when someone went on to the Supreme Court. I think he got down there and found out how corrupt it was because he just finished the term and retired. We tried to get him involved as attorney general to prosecute the case but he wouldn't do it.
When Janette Kent was awarded the entire estate, all of a sudden her attorney Gary McMurry changed his story. Originally he didn't want to put any money in it and didn't want his fee based on any of the assets.
"Oh no, I'm entitled to 40% of everything," says he. But before we won he tried to get her to settle for $100,000! He then became hostile to me. In September of 1988, right after we won the case and Gary McMurry turned on me, we hired attorney Norman Lindstedt
There were 2 documents which judge Crookham signed. One was the Constructive Trust, which he placed on all the properties. The other was a Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, a separate document. There were 2 documents. We had the one creating the constructive trust. We were not given a copy of that Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.
".to turn it over, forthwith." was the wording in that missing document requiring Brune and Brown to release the estate to Janette.
"Well, you've just been declared the beneficiary of what is ever left of Kettleberg's estate." This is what they told Kent. The Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law ordering Brune to turn the estate over to Janette "forthwith" didn't turn up until Jack Salter found it 6 years later.
I thought our problems were over. Milton Brown was a licensed attorney. The court imposed a constructive trust on the Kettleberg estate assets. A constructive trust says that anyone who holds those assets is a trustee. The only indicia of ownership that Milton Brown has is sole possession. The assets are in his possession. If you run by a store and scoop up some merchandise, to everyone else you have ownership of it because you have possession of it. But to the store owner you have only possession. Legally you have no ownership rights or interest. And that's the position that Brown created for himself.
Brown petitioned the court to appoint Carolyn Brune, his secretary, as the personal representative of the estate. Brown then had Carolyn Brune give him a limited special power of attorney. By virtue of his act of having the personal representative of the estate give him power of attorney, he incurred a fiduciary duty toward the beneficiary of the estate. Then, by the court imposing a Constructive Trust on those assets he became a trustee because he was holding those assets. Because he has an attorney/client relationship with the estate and is a trustee of those assets, I thought he had no way to get around that. He didn't get around it. He just corrupted the system. He was trustee of the assets, he had a fiducial duty toward the beneficiary, so he set out to make himself the beneficiary. Brown is controlling absolutely everything. He has a fiduciary duty to Janette Kent. It is his duty to act in her best interests. If there is a conflict of interest, if he is trying to get stock that is hers, in a lawsuit, he cannot serve as attorney for her estate because he has an obvious conflict.
This is what is so frustrating for me, it's hard for me to believe it, but it's fact. The rule of law, to which they all give lip service, does not apply in our system. They do whatever they want to do. You file documents. You do whatever. They will say whatever in adversary proceedings and going into the court you will make a legal argument. You will not allude to the lack of integrity of the judge if you're out there practicing because you are a part of the system. If you attack the judge he's going to turn you in to the Bar and they're going to put a thunderbolt through you, like they did me. Most people are intimidated by the Bar. So they come into court and argue some abstract legal principle.
"I'm entitled to it," the principle affirms. Whatever the principle happens to be it's an abstract legal principle!
"He was born there. The law recognizes such and so." They make these legal arguments based on some abstract set of facts. The real facts in the case are never presented because the attorneys, the parties that are framing the issue that's being discussed in the courtroom, do not state the real facts. People do not realize that. Then compound that with the fact that the judge and the attorney on the other side have already gotten together, and all the attorneys have gotten together. They've all already decided the outcome before you ever even enter the courtroom. It is simply a show trial. There is no genuine litigation going on. The judge has already decided what the facts are and what the conclusion is going to be.
Three months after Janette won her case the Bar filed a complaint against me. Once Kent started fighting the Bar Association started disbarring me. I was being run through the disbarment proceedings while I was helping Kent. Every time I went any place I was catching flack.
"Well, you've got trouble with the Bar don't you, Weidner?"
The absolutely groundless charges were filed in September, 1988, claiming that I had entered into a business deal with a client. There was no evidence that he was a client at all. They went back to an event that had occurred 8 or 9 years earlier. I had facilitated a business transaction with a fellow by the name of George Milges. I knew George. I'd worked in the fire department with him. He was an investor.
"If you ever have anything that looks good let me know," he had said. So I told him about this.
"We have a business in which people want to invest," I told him.
"Well, I will loan." he dictated the terms and I drafted the document. Another fellow was putting up property and the company was signing a note so we had a secured loan. Well, the company went upside down and the property depreciated in value, or there were problems with it, and so Milges came back after me because I was an owner of the company. I had been given a part ownership as a consideration for doing the legal work. I didn't negotiate anything, I just drafted a note. I was not his attorney.
So the Bar paid off Milges $200,000 from my insurance policy when he sued me civilly, claiming that I was his attorney. Doug Hamilton, Milges' attorney, threatened me to go along with it or be reported to the Oregon State Bar. The Bar, this little good ol' boy group, took $200,000 on my ticket and paid that off. When I was represented by the bar, of course, I was naïve as could be.
"Well, you have to go along with whatever we say," they said to me. And so they paid off George 200 and some odd thousand dollars on my policy. My premiums then skyrocketed to around $15,000 a year because of the surcharge for paying off that claim.
It had taken 3-5 years for that incident to get settled up but the payoffs had been completed 2 or 3 years earlier. The Bar decided to go back and use that incident. Now they were going to disbar me on the same case on which they paid off. I know what they were thinking.
"My god, Weidner's out there! We've got to get rid of him!"
In December, 1988, 3 years after Kettleberg's death and after Kent had won, Carolyn Brune, Milton Brown's secretary and the Personal Representative for the Kettleberg estate, filed a complaint against Milton Brown for an accounting. They had to have a complaint, to cover the fraud, showing that she was doing something to try to recover misappropriated funds. The scheme was to sue Brown and then settle in Brown's favor. It was a very lightweight complaint. This is what they do. They keep control of the assets, control of the litigation and you're forced to go through all this make-up litigation. If you go down to the courthouse today you'll see probably 10, 15 feet of files that have accumulated in this case to protect the theft. This is the enormity of it.
I'd gone through a series of attorneys before getting to Norman Lindstedt. I knew Brown was a crook but I did not know that Norman Lindstedt was a crook or I would never have hired him. Lindstedt tries to play this accommodating sort of pleasant guy. He is treacherous because he can appear so proper. He goes to church. He's well-groomed, about 5 foot nine, silver hair, mindful of his physical appearance and maintains a big ego. He is dangerous because he feigns propriety. The vicious hypocrisy of the man! He has his client Janette Kent by the throat and is throttling her down so he can steal a half million dollars. That's what he ended up taking out of that estate, plus paying the Bar Association another 40 or 50 thousand dollars to defend himself against us. We were trying to force him to comply with the rule of law. I realized we were having difficulty getting any attorneys to get involved, particularly after Lindstedt got involved. They knew the fix was in.
Carolyn Brune was appealing the decision from 1988 and it would be a year until that case would be heard in September of 1989. During that interim it was agreed that Norman Lindstedt would be named co-Personal Representative. We thought he was on our side, working with us. He advised us concerning possible action or inaction of the courts, since it was on appeal. He was oh so deftly leading us right down the primrose path. So Janette agreed to his appointment as co-personal representative of the estate and signed an agreement with Lindstedt that he could not settle without her consent.
In March or April of 1989 attorney Ken Renner, from one of the big law firms downtown, took my deposition for the Bar. Afterwards we got on the elevator together.
"I'll never do one of these again!" he said as he banged his fist on the wall inside. He knew that I was being set up, that he was just a hired gun.
The Bar complaint was heard at the trial panel level in June of 1989. They had no evidence. At the trial panel level, the first of 2 levels, if you are going through a disbarment or disciplinary action, you get 3 judges. Two are attorneys and the third is someone from the community. They'll go out and get a teacher or some respectable type to make it look like it's fair. If they recommend more than a 6-month suspension you can appeal that to the Supreme Court. In my case they recommended a 3-year suspension, at the trial panel level, insuring an automatic review by the Supreme Court. Martha Hicks, a politically correct feminist yuppie, was prosecuting. Martha Hicks is your stereotypical feminist bureaucrat-plutocrat-professional bureaucrat I guess you'd call her. Hair a little bit below her ears, tight small facial features, plain looking, neither an attractive or an unattractive woman. She is as treacherous as they come. She would prosecute her mother. She'd prosecute Mother Teresa if she was told to. She's just absolutely totally amoral.
Carolyn Brune's appeal was heard in September of 1989. It was the Personal Representative's appeal of judge Crookham's ruling. The Court of Appeals in a de Novo review found for Kent also. Again, Janette Kent was awarded the entire estate as the sole heiress.
Carolyn Brune's attorney was Michael Gentry. If Gentry was a dog he'd be a poodle dog. He affects this kind of a choir boy presentation. He makes a good appearance and he's bright. He's very glib and deft at putting forth his legal position. But he's absolutely as corrupt as they come because, openly, knowing all of this thievery's going on, he has been actively participating in it and protecting it.
Norman Lindstedt was Janette's attorney. Mary Dietz and 2 other judges sat on the 3-judge panel in the Court of Appeals. Mary Dietz just looks like a nondescript middle-aged attorney to me. There's nothing unusual about her. They upheld Crookham and ruled for Kent. When we attended the appeal we were still unaware of that document, the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, ordering them to turn over the estate "forthwith."
After it was affirmed on appeal that Janette was the sole beneficiary of the Kettleberg estate, all of a sudden there was a 180 degree turn by everyone. I was being attacked, verbally. All the attorneys were hostile to me. Behind my back Lindstedt was saying that I was crazy, that I was off my rocker. I went to probably 10 or 15 attorneys and some became actively involved.
"Oh yeah, we're with you Roger." and then, all of a sudden, they were trying to shut me down.
"He's got some trouble with the Bar." they were telling Kent. They started this whispering campaign to try to discredit me.
Carolyn Brune had filed a complaint against Milton Brown and we wanted Lindstedt to amend it to include a racketeering complaint and add Janette as party plaintiff. Brune's complaint was a ploy. She was on Brown's payroll for at least 6 months after Kettleberg was dead. She no longer openly worked for Milton Brown but in reality, she did, because she was being paid by the estate and Brown had control of the income it generated. She picked up 2 or 3 hundred thousand dollars out of that estate as Personal Representative.
"I do not have the authority to bring a racketeering complaint against Milton Brown," Lindstedt informed us. "I have no authority to do that."
In 1989, after the appeal was won, I started going through all the records. I went down to Gentry's office and he let me look at them. When I mentioned that to Lindstedt he was surprised that Gentry let me see the records. He got this very perplexed look on his face.
"He DID?" It had not yet clicked in my head that they were all in this together. I took video depositions of the investigators that had been working for Kent. It was devastating to the other side. I wanted Lindstedt to look at those video depositions. I gave him one set and he lost it. The next set, something broke.
"Well, now Roger I've agreed with Brune we won't be taking any of these documents home." Lindstedt said. He was trying to intimidate me, not directly, not violently, but he was trying to make it uncomfortable for me.
"Don't come in here and order my help around." he'd say. I hadn't been. He was trying to make issues and he was not pursuing Brown. He was talking settlement with him. Based on what he was saying about these properties, it was apparent he had no knowledge of the extent of the fraud. In fact, one of Helen Solem's documents mentions a telephone conversation with Lindstedt reporting he was stunned when she told him Brown was skimming 25 or 30 thousand dollars a month from just one of these properties.
".a MONTH?" he had said. He was trying to seal this thing up. I know now that he and Brown had entered into 3 secret agreements.
Between September of 1989 and June of 1990 Brown started producing documents that were all obviously forged. There were 4 different buy/sell agreements, 8 or 9 corporate minutes and a note for a million dollars, 14 documents in all. Kettleberg's signature had been forged on all 14 of them. It was definitely the same hand wrote them all. They were laughable forgeries all except for one, which was quite well done. It gave me some concern when I first saw it. Right away we were challenging them. Dorothy Layman and another woman were the handwriting experts. Dorothy Layman looks like a fifty-year-old office secretary.
I became aware by October of 1989 that Lindstedt had been turned by Brown. When I realized he was fighting us, I filed the petition to remove him as Personal Representative. We were fighting early on when he said he was going to settle with Carolyn Brune and release her bond. As soon as he said he was going to settle we started pushing him.
"Lindstedt, maybe you better resign," being nice at first but then ratcheting it up. At one time he said that he did want to resign as soon as possible.
"Please draw up the papers," he said to attorney Joe Rieke. But then he wouldn't resign. He kept saying it but he wouldn't do it. In late 1989, October or November, when he said he was going to settle with Carolyn Brune come March of 1990 we demanded that he resign.
"If you do not resign Lindstedt we are going to file a racketeering complaint against you in federal court."
Attorney Nick Albrecht was hired. Nick Albrecht is 250 or pounds or so, 5 foot 10 or 11. He likes German military instruments of war. He looks like a dissipated German Count. Nick worked for Milton Brown for a long time so he knew the insides of Brown. He had a long time shaking that label that he'd worked for Brown. When he went into court he became intimidated. I didn't trust him either. When you hire them they always want money and as soon as they get the money they go to sleep on you. From the first, I got a video camera in there to make sure that if Lindstedt did not resign Albrecht would file a racketeering complaint against him.
I had Kent file a racketeering complaint into federal court against Lindstedt and Brown. As soon as Lindstedt got wind of that he amended the Brune suit to include a racketeering complaint listing all of Brown's fraud. He filed that in early 1990. Later he called and said he wanted to add Janette as a party plaintiff. We agreed. He went into Ancer Haggerty's court and filed a petition to have her added saying that she was an indispensable party and must be added. Haggerty agreed. As soon as judge Haggerty agreed Lindstedt went into judge Don Londer's court in March of 1990 and filed a motion to dismiss the complaint with leave to refile within a year saying the judge would not allow a set-over because there had been a new party added. There was no alternative but to dismiss.
The Supreme Court disbarment trial was also scheduled, at first, in March, for the same time that we had this hearing before judge Londer, who was trying to dismiss the complaint that had been filed against Brown by his secretary, Carolyn Brune. Janette and I went into Londer's court and challenged that vigorously saying we were prepared to go to trial. Londer denied the motion to dismiss. So the case was on. Then we went back into Haggerty's court to have Haggerty sign the order that he'd entered. He'd said she could be added but he never signed it. So we prepared the order for him to sign making her a party so Lindstedt could not settle without her signature. Lindstedt came into the court and argued that she could not be added, exactly the opposite of what he had previously argued and Haggerty went along with it. Haggerty had gone both ways. I don't know if he ever signed either one of those. Might have signed the second one.
The basic premise of the suit, what was it designed to do, was to created litigation. Brune was showing that she was suing Milton Brown. She acknowledged that there was a buy/sell agreement between Kettleberg and Brown, which there was not. The document was forged. She said it was a valid document but that Brown had done something wrong. He didn't account for his own assets.
"You're going to have to pursue this to include the assets of Milton Brown." said the judge. It was a make-up kind of a complaint. They were just making up litigation so you have to come in and plead your case. It gives the judge the opportunity to tell you 'no.' This is how they do it. They just made up this claim that Kent had only been declared the beneficiary. Judge Lee Johnson referred to her as the "residual legatee" meaning she was just entitled to what was going to be left of the estate once all the attorneys were paid which was going to be, of course, nothing. Brown is the author of all this. Judge Crookham had already ordered the properties be turned over to Janette.
I began gathering groups of people to start coming into court with me in June of 1990. The Bar Association decided to convene the Supreme Court, for my disbarment trial, at the Lewis and Clark Law School in front of 300 students, to maximize my embarrassment. There would be no back-up facility and no back-up recording. I wanted witnesses. I prepared a motion for an in camera hearing and filed it at the last minute, to throw them off. An in camera hearing is just a hearing in chambers with only the judges. I know most of them. I intended to confront them.
"Listen, goddamnit judge, I'm going to make a record out there and if you don't want to hear it I'm going to do it! You understand that?" That's what you do in the backroom.
"This bullshit is gonna stop out there. This is a sham." You go after the judge. Everything in the courtroom goes on the record. In camera you talk to him off the record. The judge can threaten you too, but not when you're doing what I'm doing.
"We're not going to hear this." he may say.
Before court convened, as I stood outside talking with my supporters, a court clerk came up to me with a note written on a little green napkin.
"Tell the parties and Weidner," it said, "that the motion has been denied." This was a formal hearing and the judge was sending me napkins, outside the courtroom, telling me a motion had been denied.
"Who gave this to you?" I asked.
"Judge Ed Peterson."
Ed Peterson's very bright. He was the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and president of the Chief Justice Association of the United States. So, there's nothing wrong with his legal power. The unfortunate part is he's crooked. But he makes a very good impression. He can be very charming and gracious. Peterson was in on this early on. He's a former partner in the Tooze & Marshall firm. It used to be Tooze, Kerr & Peterson. He has the same kind of treacherousness as Norman Lindstedt though he's probably a brighter attorney than Lindstedt.
"I do not want to hear any kind of response other than on the record, in the courtroom," I said. Another clerk came up a second time and I told her the same thing. I communicated to the court reporter that I definitely wanted a copy of the transcript of the proceedings. When Peterson entered the courtroom and sat down he leaned over the edge of the bench and spoke quietly.
"Mr. Weidner, your motion has been denied." The gals told him that I would not accept this note on a napkin.
Just before the hearing, we were walking in and I noticed justice Fadely was looking at me. I saw this glint in his eyes, almost like a gleam, and this strange look. He was looking at me because he knew what I was doing. Fadely was a former state senator. Savvy politically. Dick Unis, one of the 7-member panel, whom I know fairly well as a trial court judge, had this funny look on his face too. He's about 5 foot 10, a very athletic guy, bald on top, very high intellect, extremely knowledgeable about law systems. One of the best trial judges in the state of Oregon. He could rank way above everyone else because he was so knowledgeable. In the past I had tried several cases in front of him. It was a pleasure because you weren't reacting to some thick-headed judge sitting there. He was way ahead of you. He'd gotten a copy of this motion for an in camera hearing and he realized this was a political prosecution. He resigned off the Supreme Court shortly thereafter. Chief Justice Ed Peterson left also. Fadely was removed.
This time I got a chance to defend myself. They didn't check the facts. There was no evidence at all. One of my supporters told me he saw the court clerk intentionally foul the tape of the proceedings. But the law school was videotaping as a student activity. I went up during the lunch break and sat down beside that cameraman.
"Are you going to be here?" I asked. "I want to make sure that nothing happens to this film." While I was sitting there Ed Peterson entered the room and eyed me, obviously perceiving what I was doing. He knew this was a political prosecution and that I understood what was happening. Court reconvened and I made my final arguments.
"There is no evidence that I was Milges' attorney. This is a totally political prosecution. There is no basis for it at all. The only reason for it is because I'm working on that Kettleberg case." They had no evidence whatsoever that I had an attorney/client relationship.
"No misconduct," the Supreme Court ruled after the hearing and the charges were dismissed.
The basic dynamic that is in place in the system is a complete corruption of the judicial process. You do not have a Constitutional government. You have a police state in place with these state-appointed, government-appointed magistrates in there. If they are against the system they are jettisoned out, even if they're on the Supreme Court, like Fadely, they're jettisoned out of the system and attacked. Fadely was a former Supreme Court justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. He was there at my first disbarment trial. Fadely came up to me a few years later at a press conference, after he had been removed from the Supreme Court.
"Roger, I didn't vote with them to disbar you," he said. He was jettisoned off the Supreme Court because he wasn't going along with them. Ostensibly it was for pressuring an aide for sex. He was accused of having an affair with one of the gals that worked there. She said he was using his office to pressure her. Sexual harassment. But that would have been fine had he cooperated with the good ol' boy network. I didn't realize the depth of that network until I got into this. In the brothel down there you're paying your dues and you're protecting the system. You can do anything you want. You can murder-all-anything.
I made application with the Bar Association to get back on active status. Once we hit on that case and we won that I thought I wouldn't have to go back to work. But then it started dragging out and although we'd won the case we couldn't gain access to the assets. I wanted to come back on active status before they succeeded in disbarring me.
"Well, you're going to have to submit to a psychiatric examination."
"For what reason?" I asked.
"Well, there's been a report." said the fellow who worked for the Bar, Jeff Shapiro was his name. I was insistent and he became very perplexed with me.
"Who's putting up this requirement?" I asked.
"The board of governors," he responded.
At the time Bill Crow was the President of the Oregon State Bar. I knew him. He'd been a teacher of mine in law school so I called him. He was very cordial.
"Who required this? On what basis are they requiring this referral?" I asked.
"Martha Hicks said they were concerned about your mental stability," he replied. Of course, it was actually because I was involved in the Kettleberg case. I had started clamoring about this corruption. I was making these wild charges about judges being corrupt.
'Oh! You must be nuts!'
I had to see a doctor to be reinstated as an active Bar member so I went out to the office of the doctor in Cedar Mills for the examination.
"Your appointment is not scheduled for today, Mr. Weidner," the receptionist purred. "You're not to come in today. You're to come in tomorrow."
I returned the next day. Again, she said it was the wrong day. I thought she was trying to antagonize me. I thought it was intentional.
"Well, I was told today and I want to know why. Let me see that book," I said as I reached across the counter for her appointment book.
"You can't see this book!" she cried, retreating with the book. I thought they were trying to get me agitated so I would cork in their office. They try to provoke you so they can write up a report.
'Weidner was in here ranting and raving.'
That doctor wouldn't see me anymore.
The objection hearings to the final accounting of Personal Representative Carolyn Brune started right after that in judge Lee Johnson's court. Lee Johnson is the probate judge, the former Attorney General of the state of Oregon and a former Court of Appeals judge, so he has this vanity. He's crooked, incompetent, he's a drunk, he is mindless, a despicable human being. Johnson is probably 5 foot 10, weighs about 250 pounds, very dissipated, pot-bellied, heavy jowly face. He's in with the money elite. He is shamelessly and horribly corrupt. I would give him zero in every category. Minus, if you could put a minus. He has no memory. His brain's been pickled by alcohol. The people that worked for him said that he'd have booze on the bench. He has no intelligence. He's become so corrupted that's it's just a matter of putting on a pretense.
When a person submits a final accounting the other side can object and there were strenuous objections. We wanted to expand those hearings to include the claim against Brown.
"I'm not going to hear anything against Brown." Judge Johnson said that 16 times.
There was a series of 8 to 10 hearings beginning in June, 1990 and continuing to February, 1991. We were moving to block those hearings because we had filed an action against Milton Brown that was scheduled to be heard in November of 1990. Two hearings and we could settle it all, once we had our action. We planned to file a motion then move for Summary Judgment on it and all the facts that we had developed about the forgery and the fraud. No fact that we ever put up was ever disputed. It was always some procedural thing.
Milton Brown is in possession of trust assets. This is what people lose sight of. The judge imposed a Constructive Trust on all these assets. Brown, by operation of law, is a trustee of all Kettleberg assets that are in his possession. He also, on his own, had his secretary give him a power of attorney as the Personal Representative of the Kettleberg estate. When you perpetrate that kind of a fraud on someone you have created a liability.
Our racketeering complaint was just to implement judge Crookham's order, to take possession of all the assets. We did not yet know about the order of judge Crookham to turn over all the assets "forthwith." But I knew that they were trust assets as of the date of Kettleberg's death. We were asking that they be turned over, that we be given possession of them because they were Kent's properties. As of the date of Crookham's order that property was hers. Milton Brown was Kettleberg's partner so it was half his also but he has a duty to account for the assets, for the property that he has in his possession. Ordinarily, when you can't come to a settlement, the assets are sold. They're liquidated. That's the remedy for that kind of situation. He could buy her out. If it had gone as it should have, all the properties would have been appraised and one party given the opportunity to buy out the other party. You mortgage them and pay off the other party. That's the way that you resolve those kinds of situations. I was beginning to realize that no matter what the evidence, because of the corruption, we could not get them to obey the rule of law. We could not get the judge to order him to do anything.
First there were the hearings on the objections to the final account of Carolyn Brune. That stretched over 5 or 6 hearing dates. She and Norman Lindstedt were the Personal Representatives of the estate. As Personal Representative she makes an initial account of what the assets are, what she paid out, then she submits a final account. She posts a performance bond, which guarantees her service. She had posted a 3 million dollar bond. That final account then is when the other side can protest the final accounting and charge her if she has embezzled or otherwise misused funds or assets. Following the objections to the final account of Carolyn Brune were the 3 or 4 hearings on the Lindstedt/Brown settlement agreement Brown had entered in. Lindstedt had signed an agreement with Brown to sell him all the assets for a fraction of their value. But Lindstedt had signed an agreement with Kent that he couldn't sell the assets without her consent.
In the 10 hearings from June, 1990 until February, 1991, judge Johnson's behavior in court was threatening. I could see what he was doing. He was restricting witness testimony. All evidence that he didn't want to hear he would just ignore.
"I'm not going to hear that! You sit down and shut-up!" He was running police-state courts. Johnson referred to Janette as a residual legatee. That means that after everything is paid you get whatever is left. That was not in compliance with judge Crookham's order but that's how Johnson was characterizing it, forcing her through all this new litigation against Brown. This was all a make-up pretense to allow a litigation so they could cut Kent out. Brown had hooked enough people and he'd hooked the system. When Brown and his parties were put on the stand Johnson protected them by sustaining objections to any questions they were asked.
I spoke at one of the hearings, July 26th of 1990, when I was called as a witness. We were talking about the gross under-valuation of these assets by Brune in her account. I was called to testify as to the actual value of these assets. This was about properties. I had been in real estate development and I'd done these syndications so I was knowledgeable. Johnson summarily ruled that I was incompetent.
"Well, I'm not incompetent," I said.
"Mr. Weidner!!" he shouted.
"I am not incompetent," I replied.
"Well I'm ruling, Mr. Weidner, that you are incompetent to enter any opinion about these properties."
"Well I'm not incompetent, I'm-"
"MISter WEIDner. I'll have you taken out of here!"
"Well, I'm going to make an offer of proof, right here and now," I said. "I'm going to be making an offer of proof in this courtroom."
Nick Albrecht was standing at the counsel table, his eyes just like saucers, watching this go on. I could see that judge Lee Johnson and attorneys Norman Lindstedt and Michael Gentry were simply running this through the system.
"I can impose sanctions on you Mr. Albrecht if I find your client Janette Kent's claim is frivolous!"
He sat there seething while I made that offer of proof concerning the actual value of those properties. That was the first confrontation and his first act of open hostility toward me. I thought that I would break through all the opposition I was encountering by putting on this offer of proof.
Around November of 1990, during the hearings concerning the final accounting of Carolyn Brune, Norman Lindstedt, co-personal representative of the estate and Janette Kent's attorney, was trying to settle with Brune for $11,000, the improprieties in which she had engaged. It was just a set-up deal. Brune created a situation where it could be claimed that she entered into some improprieties concerning the estate. She had allowed Kettleberg's sister and niece to take the car and she sold off some of the assets, little ones, just to make something to have this miniscule situation there. That was a breach of her duty so she agreed to pay 11 thousand dollars to the estate. It was just a pretense. She was being penalized. They were surcharging, fining her. That was the ruse that they were using to have a hearing. While she was settling for 11 grand Brown had actually been taking much much more than that out of all of this. Milton Brown was skimming huge sums of money. The properties are all still there. He's still collecting the rents as he always has. All that there's been is a little paper game, a little charade in a courtroom with judge Lee Johnson, Norman Lindstedt, Milton Brown, Carolyn Brune and Michael Gentry, all just saying empty words to achieve an objective. We were, of course, challenging her accounting. They had to have a hearing on the settlement. They couldn't have it against Brown so they used Carolyn Brune. They listed the assets as being worth a million and a half dollars and Brown then was going to buy those assets-Kettleberg's half. They grossly underestimated and put the assets at just a fraction of their worth, pennies on the dollar. That's how they were going to run this thing through. That hearing then, after it had passed, all subsequent judges said the settlement hearing with Carolyn Brune was a full and complete hearing of all these issues. I was trying to figure out some way to put the brakes on this judicial thievery.
"I'm warning you Lindstedt," I said threateningly, "get out of this case."
"Now Roger, don't..." my supporters were getting on me for getting on him. We were doing the probate, some further proceedings, and Lindstedt, who was supposed to be representing Janette but was saying everything in favor of Brown, Lindstedt was up at the counsel table speaking, openly lying.
"I tried to bifurcate this. I wanted to bifurcate this hearing but Roger and Kent would not allow me to do that." Bifurcate means to split into 2 parts the action that was pending. Kent and I had been asking him to bifurcate and he had agreed to do so, the action against Carolyn Brune and the action against Milton Brown. Separate actions. One against the Personal Representative for her final accounting and the other against Milton Brown for converting the estate assets to himself through forged buy/sell agreements. I was sitting as a spectator listening to Lindstedt saying exactly the opposite of what we had agreed. The proceedings had reached a point at which they were going to sell all the assets to Brown for a fraction of their value. He was absolutely lying. Everything he said was to protect Brown. I couldn't stand it. Our case was going down the tube so I stood up.
"He's lying. Every word that's coming out of his mouth is a lie!"
"Mr. Weidner! Guards!! Take him out of here!" When I stood up I anticipated judge Johnson would have me removed from the courtroom. The guards took me out of the courtroom instantly. They didn't arrest me, they just removed me. That was the first time I was physically taken out of the courtroom. This opposition was building.
Lindstedt had signed a settlement agreement with Brown. But Lindstedt was Janette Kent's attorney and had signed an agreement with Kent which stated that he could not settle without her consent. The question was, did Lindstedt have the authority to settle and did judge Johnson have the authority to set aside the settlement agreement. The agreement itself says that it's subject to court approval.
We hired attorney Mike Morris who subpoenaed Milton Brown into court and subpoenaed his records. Mike Morris is 5 foot 10, slight build, a bright attorney. He has a nervous, rapid-talking demeanor about him. He seems embarrassed about what he got into, but not much backbone to do anything about it. Brown came into court and didn't bring any records and he was there without his attorney. Lindstedt then came in and said that he had settled with Brown. Lindstedt was trying to settle and sell all these assets to Brown for 2.1 million dollars. I found an investor named Bob Jarvis. He used to own Jarvis Jeep here in Portland and he said that he would loan Janette 2.1 million if she could be named personal representative. We were fighting them on that.
"I want Milton Brown to submit the records." said Mike Morris. Brown stood up.
"That wouldn't be fair! I don't have my attorney here to defend me!" This is Milton Brown in the courtroom saying this. Milton Brown IS an attorney.
"Yeah, that's right. I'm not going to make Brown produce any documents. I don't think I have the authority to set aside this settlement," says judge Johnson. Don't try to make any logic out of it. They were just putting on the pretense of judicial proceedings.
"But Mr. Lindstedt has signed an agreement with Kent saying he cannot settle without her consent," said Morris.
"Well, it's too late now. It's done, the settlement is signed and I have no authority to set it aside," said judge Johnson.
"Well, it says right here judge it's subject to court approval," Morris said and Johnson just gave him a blank look. We'd caught him flat-footed. He didn't have a comeback.
"Well, ok, we'll have a hearing to see if I have the authority to set this aside." It was so obvious that judge Johnson was just using this as a pretense to get out from under the pressure. Kent had been awarded the estate. These were her properties. Judge Crookham had ordered Brune to ".turn them over forthwith." After all this threatening that was going on during these hearings, Johnson decided to have a hearing to determine whether or not he had the authority to set aside the settlement agreement that Lindstedt had entered into with Brown. That was just a pretense. The agreement itself said it was subject to court approval so he had an absolute right to set aside something that was subject to his approval! It was just a charade. It's just words stated to make up an issue, to talk about something other than the facts in the case.
What we didn't know was that there were 3 other secret agreements that Lindstedt and Brown had signed together. Brown was trying to hush that up and get this settlement through because he had Johnson wired. WIRED! We were fighting trying to keep that from happening. Those secret agreements were found in 1993 or 1994 by Jack Salter after the trials and hearings were over. Lindstedt was supposedly representing Janette but he signed these secret agreements with Brown that Brown would pay him 1½ million dollars for all the assets of the estate. In consideration for that, if Brown had to defend himself against Kent because we were coming after him, then Lindstedt had to agree to reimburse Brown for those expenses and attorney fees out of the 1.5 million. This was part of one of the secret agreements they signed that didn't turn up until Jack Salter found it a few years later. That was the core of the agreement, the payment of this certain sum of money, virtually nothing in comparison to the value of the properties. Brown was going to get it all back anyway for his legal expenses. Lindstedt was hired and legally bound to fight for Kent but he was working for Brown. Lindstedt was seen huddling with Milton Brown in court. Huddling with him! After he'd filed a racketeering complaint against him! Incredible.
One of the assets that Brown got back in the deal was a note he had previously signed to the estate for a million dollars that he owed Kettleberg, so he's off the hook to pay that million dollars. Money came in on these different checks from Brown and here's where it went.
500 thousand dollars went to Norman Lindstedt.
150 thousand dollars went to the Bar Association's Professional Liability Fund to pay the attorneys who were defending Norman Lindstedt.
300 thousand dollars went to Michael Gentry, the attorney for Carolyn Brune.
200 thousand dollars went to Carolyn Brune for her fees for being Personal Representative.
All the cash that came in, every bit of it, went to those people who were fighting Janette Kent tooth and nail to protect Brown-working for Brown-who were supposed to be working for Kent! All of them! Carolyn Brune has a fiduciary duty to the beneficiary of that trust. Michael Gentry, the attorney for the estate, has a legal responsibility to Kent. Norman Lindstedt certainly has a responsibility to her. The estate had no cash, just assets. It had these properties that it owned. Brown picked up assets that are today worth 100 million dollars. They have a market value of 50 million and the income that Brown diverted from those assets is another 50 million.
All of a sudden, it's a fait accompli and we're saying Lindstedt has no authority to sign that agreement, Johnson says he has no authority to set it aside, it's an outrage and we're pounding on the doors then.
In February, 1991, I sent out notices to people.
"Lindstedt, Brown and Johnson are trying to steal the Kettleberg estate. Show up." This was going to be the showdown, in that courtroom, February 19, 1991.
My father had been the Deputy Fire Chief in Portland for 10 years and as a young man I worked as a fireman for 12 years while I attended college and law school. So, I sent out notices to all these firemen and I had standing room only in the courtroom that day, maybe 70 people there.
"Just fill up the jury box," I said, when the room was full. There were 8 retired fire chiefs sitting in the jury box. It was a very impressive group.
"Oh shit!" I heard Gentry say, when he came to the door and saw the crowd.
I thought we were in a position to apply so much pressure that they could not just run this steam roller over us, that they would have to observe regular courtroom etiquette. When judge Johnson saw the crowd he wanted to take all the parties back into his chambers.
"Janette do not go back there," I said, grabbing her arm. "These are public hearings. We want this to go on in front of this crowd." He had to have her back there because she was one of the key parties.
Lindstedt, Gentry, Mike Morris, Greg Hartman and Nick Albrecht were there. Morris, Hartman and Albrecht were attorneys for Kent. Greg Hartman is about 6 feet tall, erect, somewhat stiff, very good trial attorney, dark wavy hair, mindful of his appearance, makes a good physical appearance and he's talented. He was in one of the big firms downtown, Durham & Bennett. It's now Durham & Hartman so he's a name partner in there. But he knows this is going on and he's not doing anything about it.
Janette's attorneys went in the back for a few minutes without her, then returned. Because Kent would not go they had to come back out into the courtroom. And then it was just like a volcano erupting. When judge Johnson began roaring Janette's attorneys started brandishing their marshmallow swords.
"Before we proceed," Johnson said, "I want to tell everyone here that I have observed Mr. Weidner's conduct during these hearings and I find his conduct outrageous and unprofessional." I was standing in the back.
"I'm in the courtroom," I said.
"I see you," he replied.
"Well, if you're going to attack me," I said, "I want to be able to come up to the stand so I can testify truthfully."
"Well, you've attacked me Mr. Weidner and I'm going to respond," he said.
"And every word of it is the truth," I said.
"Roger! Roger!" marshmallow sword Morris starts trying to shut me down.
"Roger! No! Now."
"One more word out of you Weidner and I'll have you taken out of here!"
"You've done that in the past when I tried to speak the truth in this courtroom."
"Guards!!" Judge Johnson got up and shot through the back door into his chambers. Henry Sirbaugh, one of my supporters, told me later.
"Roger, I saw the guard pull a gun on you."
Henry's 6 foot tall and balding. He was the chief down at the fire station during the years I worked there. His daughter Marilyn was a classmate of mine. She was one of the nicest gals I knew. Henry had size 14½ or 15 shoes. Whenever the bell would hit, you wanted to make damn sure you weren't in between Henry and his car. He would fly, and he'd run over everyone. I was his driver for awhile. He's been friends of my parents and he's shown up at court for me so, even though he used to jump on me when I worked down there, I still have a fondness for Henry because he does speak out about this corruption and he is a straight arrow guy.
There was a hush in the courtroom. A quietness. Lindstedt was standing at the counsel table and all the fire chiefs were in the jury box.
"Now Lindstedt," I said, "tell these people to their faces what you've been saying behind my back." Behind my back he'd been saying that I was crazy, that I was off my rocker. They started this whispering campaign to try to discredit me.
"He's got some trouble with the Bar." they were telling Kent. He stood there silent.
"You're under arrest," the guard commanded, and off I went. I couldn't believe they'd be stupid enough to arrest me, because if they arrest me, they have to try me!
My supporters said judge Johnson came back into the courtroom and pointed at Janette.
"Do you agree with what Mr. Weidner did," he said, "because I'll have you arrested too!" All those firemen gave a growl, an audible grrrrrrr, and backed him down a little bit.
This encounter I was starting to have with judge Lee Johnson reached a crescendo when he ordered my arrest. I was taken into custody and booked for contempt and held 2 or 3 days. The trial was set for March of 1991 in judge James Ellis' court. He was presiding court judge at the time. James Ellis is a very treacherous individual. He's close to 70, tall, thin, has kind of a nervous, quick laugh. When I was in the District Attorney's office in 1975 judge Harlow Lennon expressed concern.
"Roger, go in and monitor judge Ellis. He's sending everyone to jail." He was known to be heavy-handed Jim when it came to divorce cases.
I asked for a jury trial but they said you don't get jury trials for contempt of court. The courtroom was packed and I brought a lot of witnesses. By this time Dal Ferry had become involved. Dal was in his early 80's when I met him. He was 5 foot 8 or 9, graying hair, high forehead and looked like a professor. He was putting out a paper called the Counterpoint. I think it first started as a small paper, then became a newspaper when he got involved. He had a tremendous heart committed to fighting the corruption and speaking out against it. He was very supportive, early on, getting other people involved.
I was stunned when I turned around and saw Lindstedt standing in the back. I had been confronting him for months demanding that he resign and now he'd come to testify in my prosecution. So, they called their witnesses, Lee Johnson and Norman Lindstedt, to the stand.
"You're a judge and you were conducting your."
"Yes, I was."
"And Mr. Weidner."
"Yes, he was-he disrupted."
That's the types of questions they were asking so, when my turn came to cross-examine, I started trying to impeach Johnson by showing that he had no memory of the event, that he's a contemptible corrupt judge. That's how you impeach. You ask someone questions — where they were, what they observed, who they observed — to force them to be precise.
"Well, where was I in the courtroom judge Johnson when I made that reply to you?" I asked.
"Well, I think you were sitting in the front, left of center."
"I was standing in the back," I said. So he had no recollection of this. I planned to go over it in detail, turning up as many discrepancies in his testimony as I could.
"Isn't it a fact." Ellis stopped me.
"The only questions you're going to be able to ask, Mr. Weidner, are what happened in that courtroom. I'm not going to allow you to retry the Kettleberg case in here." When he said that, he shut me down. If I tried to go beyond that I would be in contempt.
I called my witnesses, who described what they saw and heard, affirming that I was just responding. As the hearing continued and I tried to expose Lindstedt's duplicity and treachery, back and forth objections were being sustained.
"Well," I said, "I have a right to cross-examine him. Let's go in the backroom and talk about this."
"No, we're not going to do that Mr. Weidner. Ask your next question," said Ellis. I wanted to go in the backroom and lay it out for him in a nutshell.
"Listen. They forged this document, stole this property.This is what's going on here judge. I want this all out on the record." I would have been saying in the backroom what he would not let me say on the record in the court. None of the surrounding circumstances would he allow to be discussed. But if you go in the back room and if you get the court reporter back there too, you tell it to him straight. That's what they were trying to prevent me from doing from the getgo.
"I have a right to cross-examine him," I said.
"Mr. Weidner, if you persist in this you're going to have the same trouble with me that you had with judge Johnson." He was threatening to charge me with contempt if I insisted on cross-examining.
"Well let's go in the backroom and talk about this judge," I said.
"What's the maximum?" Ellis asked. It was 6 months in jail and a $300 fine. BANG!! went the gavel. He couldn't say it fast enough. So he sentenced me to 6 months in jail, a $300 fine, and ordered that I was permanently banned from entering the Multnomah County Courthouse unless I obtained court approval to come in. I filed a Notice of Appeal and was out on an appeal bond within a couple of days. This is a standard routine. You just tell them you are going to file a notice and they release you, pending the appeal. I didn't go to jail at that time but I did serve, ultimately, 180 days, the entire 6-month sentence, for contempt of court.
We kept on trying to go into presiding court and make a record of the fact that we couldn't get our petition-to remove Lindstedt-heard in the probate court. Don Londer was the Presiding Court judge.
Here in Portland, years ago, they used to have the Broadway gang. The guys would go downtown and they'd turn their collars up, grease their hair back, this kind of a cool act. Londer reminded me of this-that he was once a Broadway gang guy and he never got over it. He was pleasant but he was very stiff because of what I was charging, very stand-offish. He was not intellectual at all and he wasn't a really successful trial attorney but he was in that little money clique. 5'8" or so, full-faced, full-nosed, balding, he looked Eurasian, eyes like Yeltzin. That Eurasian look is from the Tartars and the Asiatic peoples that overran eastern Europe. They have that look, that is, the leopard's eyes. When you hear about wolves in sheeps' clothing, that's Londer. He put on the robe to dignify himself and he would strut and come in with great pomp when he entered the courtroom. He had this affected voice. Everything was an affectation, an act.
When I ran the Consumer Fraud Department in Portland in 1975 and 1976 Londer was trying to become a pro temp judge so he would be very nice. He'd go out of his way to be congenial when he saw me because I was in the District Attorney's office and viewed as having political clout. Later, when he got on the bench, I had one case with him when he was acting a little strange. He didn't rule for me but I didn't put 2 and 2 together. It wasn't a big deal. Londer became the Presiding Court judge and Johnson became the Probate Court judge so that any attempt by the victims to get their cases into court would have to go through them. Those positions were assigned by Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, Ed Peterson.
Presiding Court is the court that's going on all the time. They have what they call an ex parte time when, twice a day, you can go into court and get on the record. In major populous areas you have a Presiding Court judge that handles all preliminary matters and all case assignments. He is the judicial director of the court activity. He assigns specific cases to specific judges. Londer would just assign our cases back to judge Johnson or one of the other corrupt judges — Abraham, Ellis or Cinoceros — members of this little cadre, this little gang that was running the court system. That position of Presiding Court judge is supposed to rotate every year because it is so powerful. But Londer became the permanent Presiding Court judge in 1985 or 1986 and was there for 14 years or so. I was in front of him quite a few times. He was Presiding Court judge so I was trying to get in front of him. When I would come in and try to make a record he would keep me from speaking.
"These are MY courts!" says Londer. He was brazen enough to say that, the inference being that he could do anything he wanted, let anybody speak that he chose to let speak. I do not see them as being his courts. That's a courtroom. He just happens to be working there. He was doing this to try to chase me off. We were pushing to get a hearing in the Probate Court on our petition to remove Norman Lindstedt as the Personal Representative of the Kettleberg estate. Johnson would not hold the hearing and when I would come into the court to try to speak he would threaten me with arrest. So, I started going into Presiding Court with Janette and a crowd of people. I wanted to make a record that I was being threatened with arrest by judge Lee Johnson for trying to go in and have this petition heard on the record.
"You don't think I'm so hot either do you Weidner?" Londer said when I walked into the court.
"You know Milton Brown."
"Oh, that was ye-e-a-ars ago." Later he came back in the courtroom and made an announcement.
"I want everyone in this courtroom to know that I don't know Milton Brown at all."
Because of the politics, the money and because he was corrupt he became Presiding Court judge and in that powerful position he could protect Brown. He gained that position right around the time that Brown wiped out Kettleberg and also Kittelson.
Ray Kittelson was another partner of Milton Brown. He developed Hazel Dell shopping center in Hazel Dell, Washington. Brown put up the money for it as a private lender and Kittelson did all the work. Brown was the money man and Kittelson was the developer so Brown had control of the accounts. When it was done, Brown forged some documents and foreclosed on the loan that he had made to the partnership. By the foreclosure he then took over the possession of it.
That's what Brown does. He gets control of the rents coming in. The other partner, when he's developing his property, he looks at what the property's worth and what's owed on it and what the net worth is. That's what keeps him like a horse chasing a carrot. He thinks he's going to get that carrot. Brown holds that carrot out in front of that partner, he keeps chasing that carrot and after the horse has done the activity and created all the wealth Brown takes and eats the carrot. When they went to court this judge Herb Schwab, who was a former Court of Appeals chief judge-according to Kittelson judge Schwab and Milton Brown just looked like 2 peas in a pod. They were just like baby cubs schmoozing with each other while they stripped Kittelson of that interest.
Now I was getting this violent reaction from Presiding Court judge Don Londer.
"Mr. Weidner!!"
"I'm just trying to make the record," I said and I started speaking on the record.
"I'm warning you Weidner!"
"Well I'm just here to make a record judge that I can't be heard in judge-"
"WEIDner!! I'm warning you! Report him to judge Ellis," he said to the District Attorney on one of these occasions in November or December of 1991. I'd been sentenced by Ellis to 6 months in jail but there was an appeal pending. I was under sentence and I had been ordered out of the courthouse except on business. We went 6, 7, 8 times. Janette and I were trying to get judge Londer to act on the petition to remove Lindstedt. I was trying to make a record, asking him to hear certain matters.
"I have recused myself from hearing anything about the Kettleberg case," said judge Londer. "All those matters have been assigned to judge Gallagher."
"Well I want to bring up this petition," I said. "I want to have this petition to remove Lindstedt heard."
"You can bring that up with judge Gallagher," Londer replied. "You can take anything up with him that you want." I filed petitions and left copies with Gallagher and also with Londer because I could see what Londer was doing. He was being evasive and trying to throw me off. So, I went with a group into judge Gallagher's courtroom.
"I cannot hear any of these matters pertaining to the probate," said Gallagher. "I was told by judge Londer, specifically, that I cannot hear these matters. You have to go into Probate Court to get that petition heard."
"Well I can't go into Probate Court because judge Johnson will arrest me if I come and try to speak in his courtroom. And judge Londer has threatened to arrest me if I speak about this case in his courtroom," I said. Gallagher was on the bench.
"Well he can't arrest me," he said. So, Gallagher went with Janette and me down to judge Londer's chambers. When we first showed up there Londer was in chambers, we were out in the courtroom and Gallagher was kinda standing in the door. Janette was going to go in and talk to judge Londer and Gallagher just exploded.
"You can't go in there! You go back and sit down right now!" he hissed at Janette Kent. We then were sitting down in Presiding Court and the door into Londer's chambers was swung about halfway open so I could see between the door and the doorjam. I saw Gallagher bent over whispering in judge Londer's ear, figuring out what they were going to do. Those judges are not supposed to confer at all. They are supposed to be totally autonomous but this is how brazen they were.
Sometimes Ellis would be Presiding Court judge so it wasn't Londer all the time. Ellis is nervous and he would track me. Once the security gal was standing next to me and I heard Jim Ellis' voice on her radio.
"He's in the courtroom and he has a camera." When he sees me coming he runs across the street. I've confronted him in the elevators.
"People, this is Jim Ellis. He's as corrupt as they come."
On one occasion I was taken through the courtroom and the clerk's office was right there. There were these double doors and I could see through the office door and the second door was into the chambers. Both doors were standing open and I could see Londer in there, "kkk, kkk, kkk." and Ellis was in there with him, snickering like little kids in the judges' chambers after sentencing me to jail.
"Mr. Weidner I'm warning you! I'm not." Londer threatened.
"I have an absolute right to-"
"Mr. Weidner!!"
"-make a record in this courtroom-"
"MISter WEIDner! GUARDS!!" and they would come and grab me. On one occasion the guards arrested me in the courtroom and started to remove me.
"I'm going to give you one more chance Weidner," and the guards released me. I was not arrested that day.
One time when I went in with one of these crowds there was Londer peeking out of the chambers doors. The door would open and I'd just see an eyeball coming around the edge of the door.
On another occasion the door was open and Londer was standing in his chambers looking out to me standing out there in the courtroom. He nodded to me. I've known him for a long time and I nodded back. Now and then he'd come out of the court house and see me outside. I saw him coming out of the justice center walking up the street one day.
"Hi Roger," he acted friendly, pretending like this wasn't happening. He recused himself shortly after he started doing this. He wouldn't hear it.
Londer died a few years ago, way Way WAY too late. I was going to go to his funeral just to make sure it was him. I wanted to go get a backhoe and deepen his grave by about 50 feet to make damn sure he didn't come out of there because, deep down, they're really ok. He's probably one of the best arguments for abortion that I can think of.
In late 1991, early 1992 we went into federal court with the racketeering complaint against Lindstedt and Brown. We had early on requested that Lindstedt amend this belated lawsuit that Carolyn Brune had filed against Brown in September/October of 1988 after Kent won. We wanted Lindstedt to amend that complaint to include a racketeering complaint against Brown. Because that case was 3 years old, it was of long standing and was due to go to trial soon. There had been no action on it. It was cover for her. That was the whole purpose of it, the reason it was filed.
"I have no authority to amend the complaint to include a racketeering complaint against Brown," Lindstedt said. Later on we threatened him.
"Resign or be named in racketeering complaint!" When he wouldn't resign we filed a federal racketeering complaint against him and Brown. As soon as we filed, Lindstedt amended Brune's complaint adding what they call an O.R.I.C.O. (Oregon Racketeering Influence Corrupt Act) complaint against Brown. What he said he had no authority to do, he did.
When we went into federal court judge Rettin ruled that this had all been handled, all been heard by judge Johnson.
After that we went into the court of judge Malcom Marsh. I had a group of maybe 40 people there up in the old court building in downtown Portland, big majestic federal courts like the temples of Babylon. Janette's attorney Nick Albrecht was at the council table. Marsh came swirling into that courtroom. They swirl their robes around when they take their seats to create a tension and to try to show authority and mastery. It is ungodly. You can't get any more ungodly than our judicial system.
"This has been heard many, many, many times before," said judge Marsh, "and I'm going to recount that on this time it was heard by judge Johnson, and it was heard by judge Rettin."
"Well, obviously it's been heard," you would say if you looked at the paper. But those are just words on paper. They have nothing to do with the facts in the case. And that's what's so hard to get through to people.
In the core of a racketeering complaint, there is a criminal enterprise. There is a mission that is undertaken that is the enterprise. There are players that are involved in that enterprise to carry out some illegitimate, illegal end. And so you name what the enterprise is, to steal this or do that, convert this, whatever it is, name the enterprise, what it is and who the parties are.
"Where's the enterprise Mr. Albrecht? Where's the enterprise?" he demanded and Albrecht could hardly even speak. His tongue stuck to the side of his mouth and he was making these gagging, gurgling sounds. Marsh was obviously hostile. It's so frustrating to me. What I'm describing is just blatant criminal conduct that people go to jail for all the time that is not a hundredth as serious as these charges that I'm making. But because it is so open and there are so many involved in it, no matter what you say in the courtroom, no matter what the facts are, you're going to lose.
Albrecht was intimidated by Marsh and he basically fumbled it. Lindstedt moved to dismiss our complaint claiming the opposite to the judge that he'd said to us.
"Your honor, I am the Personal Representative of the Kettleberg estate and as such I am the only person with the authority to bring a racketeering complaint against Milton Brown." Marsh went along protecting the good ol' boys and granted Lindstedt's motion to dismiss.
I was coming out of the courthouse library one day a few months later and I saw officer Sein, who works as a security guard in the Multnomah county courthouse.
"Hi, no hard feelings," I said, because he'd been giving me a hard time down there.
"Weidner?" he says.
"Yes."
"Well I can't let you go. I have a warrant for your arrest."
"Signed by whom?"
"By Ellis." This was the upshot of Londer's directive to report me to judge Ellis. Sein called but they couldn't find it on their computer so he let me go. This was March of 1992. When I got home I called judge Ellis. I've known him for 30 years. He used to be very friendly. Not any more, of course. I called his office.
"Judge Ellis?"
"Yes?"
"Ellis, this is Roger Weidner. Have you signed an order for my arrest?"
"Yes."
"On what basis did you sign that?"
"I have reports that you are causing a disturbance down in Presiding Court."
"Well, I want a hearing on that right now." Since he had an order for my arrest I had a right to insist on an immediate hearing. If an arrest warrant is issued there has to be an underlying supporting document that states the reason for the arrest. I was reportedly creating a disturbance in violation of his orders to stay out of the courthouse except on business.
"Well, I'm short of staff and I can't find my file."
"Judge Ellis, are you aware that Janette Kent's godfather is a retired US District Court judge?"
"Are you threatening me Weidner?" I detected a warning in the tone of his voice.
"I'm not threatening you, I'm just stating a fact." Janette's godfather's identity is a well kept secret because we were afraid that they would bump him off. Because he was a higher power figure he could exert some pressure on the court. They thought that he would instigate an investigation and compel the FBI to become involved.
I prepared a motion, a Show Cause order, for judge Ellis to appear in Presiding Court and show cause why that warrant should not be withdrawn. Again I came in with a crowd of people. Judge Frank Bearden was now sitting in the Presiding Court. Frank Bearden is a dapper looking guy, probably in his mid-fifties. Bright. Sharp. A good-looking male and he has kind of a diffident personality. He doesn't have a thrusting personality.
And so we were sitting there waiting, I had 30 people with me, one fellow brought a video camera and no judge was coming out. All of a sudden, BAM! The doors flew open and in came these 4 sheriff's deputies.
"Weidner?"
"Yes?" One of the deputies grabbed my hand and shoved it up behind my back.
"Well, I'm just wanting to make a record!"
"No! You're under arrest!" and out we went. The cameraman was filming this. As they were taking me out the door I spoke into the camera.
"I'm being arrested."
"What are you being arrested for?" asked the cameraman.
"Because of my work on the Kettleberg case."
Down the corridor we went, hand up behind my back, along the east wall down to the end and around the corner and if you've ever gone the wrong way down a one-way street you know the reaction that I was watching. People were just literally falling away on both sides.
"What are you arresting him for?" inquired my friend Jim Kight as he made a big motion to step aside. This time I was in there 21 days, 6 days in solitary.
When they arrest you they ordinarily put you in a concrete bunker first, with your handcuffs on. They make it uncomfortable. Initially, you're in an uncomfortable position. You're anxious to get out of there and so you are accommodating. In the second phase they put you into a holding cell. You're not handcuffed but the temperature is uncomfortably cold and you're just in your street clothes. You get a single blanket. You're always shifting and turning and you're very anxious to get out of there. And so you become very compliant. When they took me out of there they placed me in maximum security in one of those little cells where they put the most violent criminals. It was in a protective bay and there are only 3 cells in that bay. I was given only one hour out each day, to shower basically. My food was slid under the door on a tray. It wasn't solitary. Inmates could speak in between cells and in the other 2 cells one was taunting the other calling him the freeway raper.
"Freeway raper! Freeway raper!" he chanted mockingly..
"You #%&@$#&% !!" the other cursed and growled back.
"Freewa-a-y raper! Freewa-a-y raper!" in a singsong voice.
"Why you #+%&$@# !!" They kept this going back and forth and I couldn't sleep. I was there from March 9 until I was released April 1st of 1992.
I started going around the city circulating handbills through all the business districts, passing out flyers with pictures and a political cartoon. 'This is what's happening. They're stealing down there in the court.' I got a call from pastors Helen and Chet Jones. Chet is about 5 foot 10, my age, very talkative, demonstrative in his mannerisms, pleasant engaging kind of an impulsive type of a personality. Very self-confident and somewhat naïve. Helen had been widowed. She professed to be a pastor too. She was an attractive woman, kind of a busty robust type, very serious but pleasant when I met them. They owned American Showcase. They said they were calling me to support me. They had bought a farm out in Beaver Creek, Oregon as a Christian retreat. Jones bought the property from Cathy Mason, whom they met through the church. They put down a sum of money and got a 5-year lease/option to purchase it and then started investing time and money into it. Cathy Mason was divorced from her husband Don Calkins and in the divorce settlement the Beaver Creek property was awarded to Calkins. He was the owner but she had possession. When Cathy and Don divorced he moved to California. The reason he walked away from it early on was because of the debt being more than the value of it. There were 2 or 3 other investors also. One had a first mortgage the other had a second mortgage. She was trying to sell it and the agreement was that she would get any amount over and above what was owed on it. The investors were to get back whatever their investments were. She wanted to get out from under those payments so she had to get someone in there to fix it up and she got pigeons. Mason said Chet Jones could lease it for 5 years and exercise the option at the end of that 5 years. He's a carpenter. He and his wife Helen then started working on it tooth and nail.
Mason was professing such a strong religious belief.
"Oh this is God's miracle work!" Chet fell for it because he's religious too. But when Lynn Springer, the real estate agent, signed this lease/option he used some pretense not to give Jones a copy of that agreement.
"I need to have someone else sign off on this." Springer says, "and I'll get back to you. I'll have to bring you a copy of it because I don't have." Well Chet, trusting, didn't follow-up. Thinking that everything was ok Chet forgot to get his copy. So he had no way of proving that he had a lease/option.
So, they just sat back and waited while Helen was fixing up the garden and Chet was remodeling. Cathy Mason would come out and stroke them and tell them what a wonderful job they were doing, fixing up this Christian retreat.
Chet did about $200,000 worth of improvements on it and had about a million dollars in fixtures stored there. Because of the work that he did the property was worth a lot more than what was owed on it. So, Cathy and George Mason filed an FED action, what a landlord brings against a tenant, and ordered Jones off the property claiming there was no lease/option. They claimed that he was just a tenant. There were some hearings before I became involved. There was a lot of wrongdoing going on by this Ken Schmidt, the crooked attorney representing Cathy Mason. Schmidt came and grabbed some documents away from Helen in judge Pat Gilroy's courtroom. Gilroy is pushing 280 pounds at least, very heavily jowled. When he talks he talks like it's just causing him all kinds of problems to get it out. A mafiosa kind of talk. I think he's intelligent but he's so corrupt. All these events were working a hardship on Jones' marriage. Helen was in a situation where Chet's father was in the store all the time and antagonism built up. She also questioned Chet's fidelity, suspicions broke out and their relationship wore thin.
Calkins felt terrible because of what was being done to these pastors. To remedy that he came up from California and sold to me, on a promissory note, his interest in the property. Don Calkins is about 5'10, sandy blond hair, a little bit heavy. I was still unable to get on active status with the Oregon State Bar so I couldn't fight for the property unless I owned it and the pastors wanted me in the courtroom. I gave Calkins a promissory note for 20 thousand dollars and he gave me a bargain-and-sale deed transferring his interest in the property to me. I became the legal owner of the property. So then I told Helen and Chet Jones to stay on the property because I'm the owner of it. Officer Terrence Shaeffer came out and ran them off at gunpoint claiming that judge Alan Jack signed an order to clear the property. I can't believe I could be as naïve as I was. Jack was involved early on. He told Jones that he was the door to his property. Jack was a central player in this.
In June 1992 I went out there with one of Chet's associates, Jim Gordon. Gordon was a religious devotee of Helen and Chet Jones and hung around and worked around the store for the religious side of it. He was in the house while I was across the street, talking to a neighbor. As I was relating the story to the neighbor a police car pulled up. I think the cops were just sitting down the street watching the property because I'd told the Joneses to come back. I opened the gate, walked inside the fence and stopped.
"Who are you?" I said to this officer standing there.
"My name is officer Shaeffer. Who are you?"
"Well, my name is Roger Weidner and I'm the owner of this property."
"I'll mace you! I'll mace you! You're under arrest!" he said, putting his hand on his gun. He arrested the two of us for trespassing. We were held, booked and released. After I was arrested Cathy Mason filed a trespassing complaint against me and the trial was scheduled for September 17th of 1992.
In the meantime there were several hearings for Chet and Helen, beginning in July. Judge Sidney Brockley had been very treacherous. 5 foot 10 or 11, blond hair, round high forehead, he kinda reminded me of Torquemada, Inquisitor-General of the Spanish Inquisition. When he watches these events go on he has this little bit of a rocking motion while he's watching. He will cut you to pieces too. He'll hang you for the slightest heresy. When you call him corrupt, that's heresy.
Ken Schmidt was the attorney for the other side. Ohhh, that viper! Ken Schmidt is probably 60-years-old, kind of a mousy face, narrow set eyes, always assessing what's going on. He masterminded this deal to steal that property. Schmidt is ruthless and outspoken. You wouldn't want him to be standing around at a social event because he is overbearing in his mannerisms, talking loudly and disheveled in his appearance.
The judge was John Lowe and the trial, which lasted several days, took place in the Clackamas County courthouse. Lowe is about 6 foot one, soft-spoken, red jowly face. He looks like he suffers from high blood pressure or like he's embarrassed about something. His wife Cathy Lowe is a state Representative. Lowe is a politically correct unprincipled attorney, who got his job because he goes along with the good-ol'-boy network. He has that mentality.
When Cathy came to court-ohhh, she had this horrible illness and she had to be lying flat out on the floor there in the courtroom behind the counsel table. She was playing that she had to lie down for some reason and her husband/boyfriend, George Mason, was rolling his eyes. The Masons claimed there was no lease/option, that Chet and Helen were renting tenants, that she gave them notice and was entitled to possession. They said that I was claiming an interest in that property but that I had no interest in it.
Ken Schmidt, this snake, the attorney for Cathy Mason, was asking them questions and telling them the answers under his breath during the hearing. Judge Lowe was just sitting up there paying no attention.
"Schmidt," I said, "you're not."
"Oh, everyone does it!" It was a charade. I cross-examined Cathy Mason and just devastated them.
"Isn't it a fact that you." she was denying the lease/option.
"All this remodeling work that he did?"
"Yes."
".and he was just doing that you think to enrich you?"
"Well I don't know why he was doing it. He was just fixing the place up." She was being evasive.
"Why would he be out there fixing the place up, doing all these capital improvements on it, if he's just a month to month tenant?"
"Well, I don't know. You'll have to ask him that." That kind of answer.
At the end I was sure we had won because all the facts and evidence were so overwhelming. Chet Jones and Jim Gordon laid it all out. The private contractors, who owned the mortgages, were called as witnesses too. The Masons and their cohorts had all been impeached. They admitted it all though they denied signing a lease/option. But Cathy Mason prevailed. Judge Lowe ruled in her favor, ignoring all the evidence. I was in a state of shocked disbelief.
The only time that innocent honest people come to court is when something has been wrongfully taken from them. When you're in a corrupt system the courtroom is the shearing shed because the only time the crooks come to court is to take something! They've got the system wired. The judge's advantage in ruling against the evidence is that he gets paid to rule against it! Someone is paying him off. Also, because it's so unusual the kind of thing I'm doing, and I'm under so much stress, I often don't have the time to compile detailed questions. Just to get the event to happen takes so much energy. It's very fatiguing.
After the hearing Schmidt offered me his hand to shake.
"I do not shake hands with thieves, Schmidt." Our little group looked at him and the guards gave him escort service out of the courthouse.
They took over a million dollars in property from the pastors. Witnesses saw Cathy Mason and others scooping up all of Chet's property while the sheriff protected them. The pastors had stored a lot of their store fixtures and equipment there. Those were all fungible assets and there is a ready market for them. Schmidt and Mason sold the fixtures and equipment, everyone was paid off and Schmidt got all the leftover money in attorney fees, that's how ruthless they were. That's always how it works. Chet said it looked just exactly like a battle zone, with everything stripped out of there.
Cathy Mason is a consummate con artist. She posed as a fellow church member and, you know, they just drip with this sanctimoniousness.
"Oh we love God and we love you and we all just love Love LOVE!!" until they see something to snatch and grab and then WHAM! They grab it.
"MINE!" That's what they do, just like little kids. Their bodies get big but they act just like little spoiled children.
I thought pastors would be peaceful people but they ended up being anything but pastors in their behavior toward one another. In her mind, because of his foolishness Chet had impoverished them by allowing that farm to be taken and she thought he should provide for her. Chet was indignant that she was upset with him. They started fighting viciously with each other, they divorced and became horrible enemies.
In September, 1992, I was tried in judge Steven Maurer's courtroom for criminal trespassing. I had this group of people with me and when we walked into the courtroom there were 7 or 8 armed guards sitting in the jury box with their feet up on the railing.
Maurer is another one in the mold of Ed Peterson, David Buono and Norman Lindstedt. Well-groomed, mannerly, 5 foot 10 or 11, keeps himself in good shape, maybe 170 pounds, fair freckled complexion, light red hair, intelligent and this nervousness when I'm around. I've seen him out on the street. He will pace back and forth like he's distracted all the time.
There was rumbling discontent in the courtroom that day. The District Attorney was prosecuting me for trespassing on that land. Maurer would not let me go into the history of how Jones had been defrauded of that property.
"The only question here is whether or not Mr. Weidner was on that property. That's the only question. We're not going to go into all the rest of this," said Maurer. I was trying to say something and he'd keep interrupting, trying to shut me down, to prevent me from making a record.
"A piece of paper doesn't make any difference. Only was Mr. Weidner on that property." I had the document that showed the transfer of ownership.
"It makes no difference what's on that piece of paper. The only question in this trial, Mr. Weidner, is whether you were on that property." The piece of paper he was referring to was the bargain-and-sale deed that I had from Calkins. He continued with this high-handedness, restricting testimony and blocking evidence. He did the same thing Jim Ellis did when he tried me for contempt.
"Now Mr. Weidner, we're not going to try that Kettleberg case. The only question here is whether or not you spoke up in court," Ellis had said.
"No, now the only thing we're going to be talking about is what went on that day that Mr. Weidner was arrested." My supporters were protesting, not real boisterous, just reacting. Maurer and the DA would go into a flurry.
"Any outbursts and I will clear the courtroom!" Maurer said. He did not clear it, he just threatened.
They brought Cathy Mason as a witness against me. I cross-examined but only about the event. When I would start to try to go into the background and extenuating circumstances, which had a direct bearing on the event, the other side would object and Maurer would sustain it. Cathy Mason didn't have to show any paperwork of any kind that she had a right to do what she did. He did not allow me to expose her duplicity and treachery. So that's how they worked that, that little dog and pony show that goes on.
"Objection sustained."
"Well I have a right to."
"Mr. Weidner."
"Well I have a right to cross-ex-"
"Now Mr. Weidner."
He was just insistent that I not bring up anything meaningful and he was threatening to the crowd. He was poised like a snake. Real stiff. Just like a cobra. When I go in the courtroom and I see the judge has that look, he's got his head down and he's kinda looking up, I know he's in the pocket of the other side. They sit up there poised and everyone knows, by the posture, that snake is poised to strike. And they get that vacant look, just like those snakes in India that rise up and sway back and forth. That's just exactly what these vipers look like. They have to create an environment of intimidation. They don't say it but by their behavior they do it. Everything they said in the Bible is true. The whited sepulchres.
I was only allowed to call Chet Jones. I was not allowed to call Helen Jones, his wife. Maurer was restricting the witnesses and restricting testimony. He told the jury, basically, that it made no difference who owned the property. The only question was whether I was on the property. Lowe had awarded it to the Masons and had ordered Jones, and anyone associated with Jones, to stay off the property. He was enforcing that prior order, refusing to allow me to challenge the issue of ownership so the jury could consider that. Obviously, he should have been letting me do everything, put on the whole case. At that time I was not exploding. I was always intent, giving the judge the benefit of the doubt rather than openly challenging him.
People think that in a jury trial they have a better chance. But the jurors just sit like little children with the judge. Whatever the judge tells them, they comply unquestioningly. The jury convicted me. He sentenced me to 10 days in jail, psychiatric evaluation, $100,000 bail and I was walked right out of the courtroom to the jailhouse. I did the 10 days in solitary in the high security center there in Oregon City. When I went to this Doctor Davis for the psychiatric examination I took 6 people with me.
"You can ask me any questions that you want to Dr. Davis but, because this is a political prosecution to which I'm being subjected, I want these people to witness." He wouldn't examine me.
One morning my name was called.
"Weidner!"
They have a big plexi-glass wall with little holes cut in it. I walked over and was handed a subpoena from Barry Adamson, Milton Brown's attorney, calling me into court in Multnomah county on October 2nd, 1992. Now Milton Brown, this little murderous thieving viper, whom I've chased out of the courtroom previously, confronting him, is the last person in the world that wants to see me in a courtroom. He was subpoenaing me into a courtroom in Multnomah County, while I was in jail in Clackamas County. It was a set-up. I felt that a trap was being set to shut me down permanently because of my activities. I was going all around town, passing out