Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
The leader of the Alaska Peace Makers Militia will represent himself in court. At a hearing Tuesday, a state judge ruled Schaefer Cox of Fairbanks can serve as his own attorney in a weapons misconduct case. Cox, who started the “2nd Amendment Task Force” and has run for state legislature, is accused of failing to immediately notify police he was carrying a gun during a confrontation with officers earlier this year. He contests the charge, but is also trying to use the case to challenge the legality of Alaska’s court system, and says he needs to represent himself to do that.
Fairbanks District Attorney Mike Grey would not go on tape, but says the defense Cox is making has been heard and rejected many times in courts around the country. This isn’t Cox’s first time in court. He pleaded guilty in a domestic violence case earlier this year. He says he didn’t challenge the court’s jurisdiction then because he was threatened with having his child taken away by the state, and because he didn’t have the information he has now about the illegal nature of the court.
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