PINEVILLE -- After more than two years of saying he would not accept a lawyer and would represent himself at trial, Monday afternoon Robert Joos decided he needed a lawyer, postponing his trial indefinitely.
Joos, 43, is charged with resisting arrest and having a concealed .32-caliber revolver in his van June 29, 1994, when he was arrested by the highway patrol. His trial was to be held today. But, at the conclusion of a four-hour hearing, Joos asks Special Judge Ken Romines to appoint a lawyer for him because he doesn't have the same access to law books as do prosecutors. The judge had offered to find an attorney to represent Joos.
Judge Romines had given Joos several options during the hearing, and repeatedly went back to suggesting Joos consider the court case of North Carolina v. Alford. That case established the Alford plea.
That plea says a defendant does not admit guilt but believes the state has sufficient evidence to convict if the case is tried to a jury. It has the same standing in Missouri as a guilty plea.
Judge Romines offered to accept an Alford plea and sentence Joos to 26 months in jail and give him credit for the 26 months he had already served. Joos could have accepted that plea and gone home Monday afternoon but he didn't, even though he said he wanted out of jail and had been tortured by other inmates during his pretrial incarceration.
The judge even offered to accept Alford pleas to misdemeanors, but late in Monday's session Special Prosecutor Bob Ahsens said the state would not amend the charges to misdemeanors.
Early in the session, though, Ahsens announced the state did not intend to pursue prosecution of Joos under illegal weapons and explosives charges which resulted from Sept. 23 and 24, 1994, searches of the Joos property. during those searches several items were seized, including explosives, sawed-off shotguns and a machine gun.
That 200-acre of land is owned by Joos' father. Joos says it is church property leased from his father. Joos, a self-proclaimed Nazarite pastor, is the founder of the Sacerdotal Order of David. That religious sect has been linked to other supremacist groups and, more recently, to Militias in Missouri and Arkansas.
That's why I've been in jail for over two years," Joos said. "I didn't want to waive my rights," by pleading guilty.
Joos believes the state has no jurisdiction over him because he has not registered to vote. Doing so would have given up his freedom and made him a subject of the state. He also believes he does not have to have a driver's license because he does not drive but is a traveler. Joos, a former Christian Identity minister, disavowed the use of paper money and credit cards and government documents.----------------------------------------------------------
That's why I've been in jail for over two years. I didn't want to waive my rights.
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Joos has been known to pay bills in change. He said during the searches of the Joos property near Cyclone officers stole about $1,000 in quarters. He said that was all the money he had and otherwise worked for barter.
Joos' main concern with accepting an Alford plea seemed to be how it would affect any civil suit he might file against the county as well as what rights he was giving up. The judge said he would be giving up his right to a speedy trial, right to trial and right to appeal the jury's decision.
Joos said he plans to sue the county because the officers who searched the Joos property caused about $30,000 in damage to church property. Judge Romines said he did not know how an Alford plea would affect a civil suit. He said it would be up to a civil jury to determine if they believed Joos' testimony or the testimony of four highway patrolmen.
Joos defended himself in 1986 when a McDonald County jury found him guilty of simulating legal process by serving a bogus restraining order. The order supposedly came from the U.S. District Court in Kansas City but the court said Joos fabricated the order and it was an obstruction of justice.
The jury set punishment at six months in jail and a fine to be set by the court. Joos appealed and in 1987 the Missouri Court of Appeals in Springfield denied the appeal. That decision noted Joos had made about 33 allegations of trial error and none were found to be with merit.
The court issued an arrest warrant but Joos was a fugitive for seven years.
A new trial date will be set, but Ahsens, an assistant attorney general assigned to assist McDonald County Prosecutor Duane Cooper, said he had few openings until after the first of the year.
Prior to the dismissal of the illegal weapons and explosives charges, Joos had been held in lieu of bonds totaling $185,000. His bond for the resisting arrest and concealed weapon charges is $45,000.
Joos said he could not come up with a bond of that size and wanted an own recognizance bond. But the judge noted Joos was a flight risk due to his lack of recognition of the law's authority over him and because he had been a fugitive for seven years when he was arrested.