Please notice how the church people disregarded or disobeyed the parent of these kids. Horrible abuse in the name of religion. Being gay is not a disease to be cured, it is a inborn condition that can not be changed, and the attempt is torture against those it is done to. Hugs
CBC News has learned police, Crown investigating complaints from 18 Christian Centre Academy students
Sean Kotelmach, Coy Nolin, Caitlin Erickson, Cody Nolin and 14 other former students of Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, allege they were subjected to exorcism, violent discipline and other abuse there. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
Coy Nolin and his mother say they had no idea the four people in their living room were about to conduct a violent exorcism to cast out Coy’s “gay demons.”
Coy says that three days earlier, in an office at Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, the school’s director had interrogated him for several hours after informants told the director Coy is gay. Coy, who was 16 years old at the time, says the director called him “evil” and “an abomination.”
Coy was suspended and told they would try to “cure” him.
“He told me I’d have to take it like a man,” Coy said.
Coy and his mother, Carilyn, say they agreed to the home visit in May 2004 assuming they would discuss the suspension.
But almost immediately after they walked into the house, the four officials from the school and adjoining Saskatoon Christian Centre church placed their hands on Coy. They began yelling, grunting and making other unintelligible sounds known as “speaking in tongues.”
“I was no longer in control. I was pushed aside,” Carilyn said.
After more than an hour, with Carilyn crying in the corner of the room, they stopped.
Coy says the director then grabbed his large wooden paddle, bent Coy over his lap and spanked him hard enough to leave him bruised and limping.
“That was one of the worst days of my life. Even now, just thinking about it, I go numb,” Coy said.
“This was abuse. This was a hate crime.”
Coy Nolin says he’s still scarred by the abuse he suffered while attending Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, but he is now proud of his identity and finding ways to heal. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
CBC News has learned Coy and 17 other former students have filed criminal abuse complaints. After a 12-month investigation, Saskatoon police handed the file to Crown prosecutors in April to consider possible charges, according to police emails to students. It’s unclear when the Crown will make a decision.
The complaints include frequent paddlings, many of which allegedly occurred after the Supreme Court of Canada outlawed corporal punishment by educators in early 2004.
There are also allegations of coercion, traumatizing rituals and solitary confinement.
Many of the former students — and some of their parents — have agreed to tell their stories publicly for the first time to CBC News. They shared diaries, police statements and other documentation.
They say the physical, financial, social and emotional control from school and church officials was absolute, and that it has taken years to regain their dignity and sanity. Some say they’re still struggling.
“It’s taken a long time for people to speak up. I mean, it was a cult. It was essentially a cult,” said Caitlin Erickson, the first student to come forward to police.
Caitlin Erickson was the first of 18 former students of Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, to go to police. She says the degree of control exerted by school and church officials was similar to a cult. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
Officials with the adjacent Legacy Christian Academy — the name was changed from Christian Centre Academy (CCA) in 2013 — initially agreed to an interview and said they’d answer all questions. The next day, they emailed a written statement and declined to answer any further questions.
“We are grieved to learn of former students who feel they were subjected to abuse during their time at CCA. We encourage and support any former student who feels this way to file a report with the police so these matters can be investigated and dealt with properly and legally,” the statement said.
Many of the alleged incidents involved leaders and staff of both the school and adjoining Saskatoon Christian Centre, now known as Mile Two Church. The two institutions have long shared a building in Saskatoon’s Lawson Heights neighbourhood, and the school’s current handbook notes they are guided by the “doctrinal beliefs” of Mile Two Church such as the infallibility of the Bible.
Mile Two Church officials declined repeated interview requests.
Erickson and other students say they’re skeptical. They say some of the same people are still working at the school and church, and that there has been no effort to apologize or make amends.
“They simply changed the name. It’s just a rebranding,” Erickson said.
Manual details ‘scriptural discipline’
Christian Centre Academy opened its doors to students in 1982, but it didn’t receive provincial accreditation allowing students to enter university or college until 1994. Like other private schools, parents pay tuition and participate in fundraising. It has also been receiving Saskatchewan government funding for the past decade.
Most of the former students who’ve come forward attended between 1995 and 2010, but there is no time limit on legal complaints of this nature involving minors.
Students and experts interviewed say all government subsidies and tax breaks for the church and school must be halted until police and prosecutors have dealt with the complaints and the government has conducted a full investigation of the school’s current practices.
They agree some key staff have left, but the former principal and school director are now teaching at other Christian schools in Saskatchewan.
“Oh my god, this makes my stomach turn. How could this happen?” said University of Regina professor emerita Ailsa Watkinson, who was involved in the 2004 Supreme Court case to ban corporal punishment in schools.
“Religion was used to torment, to discriminate. It’s cruel. This is torture. Anyone with common sense knows this.”
CBC News has obtained an 85-page, eight-lesson manual called The Child Training Seminar, written by the father of the current pastor. Students say that, during their time at the school, it was sold in the gift shop along with bibles and a selection of hand-made wooden paddles of various sizes. Students say it was used by school staff and strongly recommended for parents.
More than 20 pages are devoted to the benefits and practical applications of “scriptural discipline.”
It states “ungodly” professors, researchers and psychologists who opposed corporal punishment are “influenced by the devil” and should be ignored.
“Sometimes, spanking will leave marks on the child. If some liberal were to hear this, they’d immediately charge us with advocating child-beating,” states the handbook.
It gives detailed instruction on the types of infractions that warrant paddling, such as riding a bicycle while “forbidden.”
“Have him bend over and apply the paddle firmly. Don’t permit any wiggling around or jumping around. Don’t allow any pre-discipline howling and sniveling. Don’t let his crying and begging diminish the severity of punishment,” the handbook says.
For parents, it states fathers are the head of the household and must ensure the discipline is unemotional and consistent. It warns against using verbal discipline and says “mothers need to particularly guard against this.”
It’s unclear whether any of the handbook remains in use. The current student handbook makes no mention of corporal punishment in its “forms of discipline” section.
‘I was so scared’: former student
Sean Kotelmach, who attended the school from 1996 to 2008, said he had difficulty keeping up with the largely self-directed curriculum, which relied heavily on memorization and obedience. In his frustration, he began to talk back.
“They made me think I was stupid,” he said.
Kotelmach said he endured a punishment akin to solitary confinement as a 13-year-old. He was forced to arrive at school 15 minutes before other students, work alone at a desk in a small, windowless room for the entire day, then leave 15 minutes after his classmates had departed. He said this continued for two weeks.
He said he was also paddled multiple times. Kotelmach said he and others would “pad” their buttocks with up to nine pairs of underwear to soften the blows. If discovered, the student would be forced to remove the underwear and punishment would increase.
“Every part of me wanted to walk to the police and simply pull down my pants and show them what was done to me,” Kotelmach said. “[But] I was scared. I was so scared. I worried my parents would get in trouble for sending me to that school.”
Sean Kotelmach says Christian Centre Academy officials employed forms of solitary confinement. As a 13-year-old, he was placed a small, windowless room with only a desk for 10 consecutive school days, prohibited from speaking to anyone. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
Later in life, medical tests would reveal Kotelmach’s dyslexia. He’s now creative director for a local marketing and media company, but said the emotional scars remain.
Kotelmach said he found the courage to file a police report last year after speaking with Erickson.
“I was tired of living with rage. I wake up in the middle of the night screaming. That’s no way to live. I want it to stop. I needed to do my part and say something,” Kotelmach said.
‘Criminal law applies to all of us’: law professor
The former students say many of these incidents, including Coy Nolin’s exorcism and paddling, occurred after the Supreme Court ruling in 2004.
In the ruling, the court limited corporal punishment to parents, and only under narrow circumstances. It must be proportional, can only be done on children between the ages of two and 12, and no implements are allowed.
It banned all other officials from doing so, and specifically mentioned teachers and school officials.
Queen’s University law professor Lisa Kelly said any teacher paddling a student after Jan. 30, 2004, was clearly committing an assault.
“That applies in any school, public or private. Criminal law applies to all of us. It is crystal clear,” Kelly said.
Kelly said any corporal punishment before 2004 could also be a concern for police and prosecutors. She said spanking, paddling or strapping a child hard enough to leave marks has long been considered by judges as excessive force.
Caitlin Erickson shared a story about her and the rest of the senior girls’ volleyball team being accused of whispering during a weekend church service in the fall of 2003.
They say that the following Monday at school, they were lined up in the auditorium and yelled at by the director, the principal and their female coach.
One by one, they were taken into a side room where one of the two male staff paddled them, they say.
“It looked like a canoe oar,” said Christina Hutchinson, the team’s captain. “Adult men doing that to a bunch of teenaged girls? It was so cruel. They were all crying, but I was so angry I didn’t cry.”
Like Erickson, Hutchinson said the school and church operated like a cult.
“Everything is based on constant fear — fear of being paddled, fear of going to hell,” she said.
They say most girls ended up with marks and bruises on their buttocks that spread as far as the back of their knees.
“I remember a week later, we were comparing bruises [in the locker room] and saying, ‘Oh, he must have been tired on you because yours isn’t nearly as bad as mine,'” Hutchinson’s sister, Stefanie, said.
She said some sessions were so vigorous that paddles broke and had to be duct-taped back together.
Erickson and other students say officials were acutely aware of the law. She said the school’s director handed out waivers in late 2003 in anticipation of the Supreme Court ban, asked parents to allow staff to continue paddling their children. Some parents refused to sign the document.
Kelly said waivers would be useless as a defence in court. A parent cannot consent to another person applying punitive physical force on their child.
One year after the Supreme Court ruling, the Saskatchewan government passed legislation banning corporal punishment in public schools. Kelly and Watkinson said this was “redundant” because the Supreme Court ruling already applied across Canada.
The Saskatoon Police Service has completed an investigation of alleged assaults and other abuse suffered by students at Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy. The file has been handed to Crown prosecutors to consider possible charges, according to police emails to students. (CBC)
Academics said corporal punishment actually makes things worse. In a 2012 meta-analysis published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, authors found that children who were spanked, paddled or strapped are more likely to have mental health issues, are more prone to violence and have lower quality relationships than those raised in a non-violent manner.
“Virtually without exception, these studies found that physical punishment was associated with higher levels of aggression against parents, siblings, peers and spouses,” stated the summary.
One of that paper’s authors, University of Manitoba professor Joan Durant, said the accounts of the Saskatoon students are heartbreaking.
“All of those things you describe are degradation and abuse. Intentionally instilling fear, isolation — none of that is acceptable. It never was,” said Durant, author of the book Positive Discipline in Everyday Life.
‘She doesn’t have a demon — she’s just shy’: parent
In their written statement to CBC News, school officials say paddling hasn’t been used there for two decades. When asked for specifics, they declined.
They said exorcism “has never been practised in our school, and we are unaware of any instance where this might have occurred.”
Former students say that’s not true.
On top of the exorcism described by the Nolin family, Hutchinson said they also took place on school property.
Hutchinson said when she was eight years old, she was asked to say the school prayer for the class. She was nervous and froze. She said that, for a week, the teacher kept her inside during recess. The teacher would sit Hutchinson on her lap, firmly squeeze and rock her repeatedly while speaking in tongues, Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson told her parents, who told administration, “She doesn’t have a demon — she’s just shy.”
In the statement, officials said any homophobia alleged by Coy Nolin and others does not exist at the school today.
“Our position on LGBTQ issues is that all students are welcome in our school, and we strive to provide a safe place for every student to grow and learn who God created them to be…we are committed to creating an environment where everyone is valued and treated with dignity, love, and respect. Therefore, we would never discipline students for their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said the statement.
They say the school is a different place than it was even a few years ago, with many new staff and leaders.
“We would welcome conversations with any students who might wish to come and revisit the school and, hopefully, find an opportunity for reconciliation,” it said.
Caitlin Erickson, Sean Kotelmach, Coy Nolin, Christina Hutchinson and others say many of the longtime staff and their relatives remain in key positions, from the pastor to the school principal.
They say no effort has been made to apologize publicly or privately.
Students waiting for justice
The students say their anxiety is growing as they wait to hear from police and prosecutors.
It’s unclear when Crown prosecutors will decide whether charges are warranted. In an email to a student, a Saskatoon police investigator said abuse files involving only a single complainant and accused can take six weeks for prosecutors to decide on possible charges. She said this file had been passed to Crown prosecutors and a decision on possible charges could take until April 2023.
A Saskatchewan Justice official declined to give details on the file and recommended asking the Saskatoon Police Service. A Saskatoon police official said they can’t comment because the investigation is ongoing.
Former students of the Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, say all government subsidies and tax breaks for the school and adjacent Mile Two Church must be halted until police and prosecutors have dealt with their abuse complaints and the government has conducted a full investigation of the school’s current practices. (Jason Warick/CBC)
Students say the people who committed the abuse must be held accountable, but that there were many other adults who witnessed it and did nothing. They wonder why this systemic abuse was ignored for so long.
That’s why they want the provincial government to investigate the school itself, freezing any funding and cancelling any tax breaks until all questions are answered.
In a written statement, a provincial Ministry of Education official said three on-site inspections are now conducted annually on independent schools, and the most recent one at Legacy Christian Academy occurred June 8.
It also said the Ministry of Education “has not received any complaints regarding LCA since funding for Qualified Independent Schools (QIS) began in 2012.”
Erickson says that’s not true. She shared a June 20 email exchange with Education Minister Dustin Duncan’s assistant.
Erickson emailed Duncan to say she “reached out to your office a number of times and received no response.” She identifies herself as a former student of Christian Centre Academy, now Legacy Christian Academy, and informs him of the criminal investigation underway.
“You have been told time and time again the damage these schools do,” she said before calling on the minister to de-fund LCA and other private Christian schools.
The provincial government says it hasn’t received any complaints about Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy. But former students say that’s not true, and provided CBC News with recent email exchanges with Education Minister Dustin Duncan’s office. (Kirk Fraser/CBC News)
The minister’s assistant wrote back “on behalf of Minister Duncan” and acknowledged receipt of Erickson’s email.
“The Minister’s response will be forthcoming. Thank-you for taking the time to write,” stated the email.
Erickson said she knows of at least one other former student who recently told Duncan to de-fund LCA.
‘I’m proud of who I am’: Coy
Coy and his mother Carilyn say that following the exorcism in their home, officials declared Coy would be sent away to a special school in Edmonton to be “cured” of being gay.
Carilyn said she had ignored other warning signs over the years — including officials forcing Coy and the others to attend protests against gay marriage legislation — because her extended family, friends, finances and children’s futures were all connected to the church and school.
But the exorcism was too much. She stayed up all night writing a letter to the director and placed it on the windshield of his car.
“I thought this would be a wonderful school, but this was ridiculous. I am not sending my child away,” she said.
“We left and never looked back. It was like a thousand-pound weight lifted from my chest. It was the best thing I ever did.”
After graduating from a public high school a year later, Coy Nolin spent a couple of years in Banff, terrified to admit he was gay even to his own mother.
He eventually told her in a phone call.
“I know. I love you. Come home,” she said. Coy did.
Now working in a Saskatoon department store and in a loving relationship, the 34-year-old said life is still a struggle but he has many reasons to be grateful.
“It took a long time,” he said. “But I’m proud of who I am.”
CBC News has learned 18 former students of a private Christian school in Saskatoon have filed criminal complaints for alleged abuse, including paddling, coercion, traumatizing rituals and solitary confinement. https://t.co/WLO9nqaia7
CBC News has learned 18 former students of a private Christian school in Saskatoon have filed criminal complaints for alleged abuse, including paddling, coercion, traumatizing rituals and solitary confinement. https://t.co/WLO9nqaia7
It’s been 422 days since I came forward to police about the abuse that went on at the K-12 Christian School I attended in Saskatoon. #saskatoonhttps://t.co/Hj5dxpDIpw
Caitlin Erickson was the first of 18 former students of Saskatoon's Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, to go to police. She says the degree of control exerted by school and church officials was similar to a cult. pic.twitter.com/oPrBff5d6Y
Saskatoon police have completed an investigation of alleged assaults and other abuse suffered by former students of Christian Centre Academy. The file has been handed to Crown prosecutors to consider possible charges, according to emails to students from police obtained by CBC. pic.twitter.com/CkyH0zo6Ar
The Sask. government says it hasn't received any complaints about Christian Centre Academy since it began receiving provincial funding in 2012. But former students say that's not true, and provided CBC with recent email exchanges with Education Minister Dustin Duncan's office. pic.twitter.com/ejKUSaYOZH
The Sask. government says it hasn't received any complaints about Christian Centre Academy since it began receiving provincial funding in 2012. But former students say that's not true, and provided CBC with recent email exchanges with Education Minister Dustin Duncan's office. pic.twitter.com/ejKUSaYOZH
This is what the republican party is now. Conspiracy nuts, Qanon followers, religious fanatics, white supremacist racist bigots, and maga cult members. These used to be fringe candidates if they were not simply ignored outright. Now they are supported, funded, and put on ballots. And in a lot of places they are winning. Scary that if elected these people will be making our laws. Hugs
The Republican Party’s nominee for Maryland attorney general hosted a series of five radio shows in 2006 devoted to arguing in support of 9/11 conspiracy theories questioning if the terror attack was the work of an “elite bureaucrat” who had demolition charges in every building in New York City.
Michael Peroutka, a candidate best known for his ties to neo-Confederate organizations, made the remarks on The American View, a radio show he co-hosted, in October 2006 while discussing the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack, even suggesting if those who died after a hijacked plane hit the Pentagon were killed elsewhere.
In the above-linked piece, you can hear audio of Peroutka claiming, “You can’t have an explosion in the basement that’s done by the hijacker on the airplane,” which, he claims, proves that the attack was an “inside job.”
Peroutka, a former board member of the neo-Confederate League of the South, has appeared a JMG over a dozen times in the last decade for anti-gay and racist stunts, most recently when he headlined a rally for anti-gay Kentucky clerk Kim Davis.
The League of the South is best known for burning the Israeli flag, making Hitler salutes, and calling the Holocaust the “Holohoax.”
You may also recall that the League Of The South recently celebrated the 150th anniversary of the assassination of “tyrant” Abraham Lincoln and provided the signage for anti-gay rallies in Alabama.
Peroutka was the largest financial backer of now-former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s successful campaign to be returned to the bench.
The GOP nominee for Maryland attorney general echoed 9/11 conspiracy theories and called the attacks an "inside job," a CNN review finds https://t.co/uBddswTjEA
The Republican party has become the party of drunk Uncle Ernie, who doesn’t get invited to family reunions anymore, because he scares the kids and breaks things.
I’m surprised he didn’t say that it was a Jewish conspiracy. Why did he hold back?
The one I’ve heard is that all the Jewish people working in the towers had ‘called in sick’ that day. Ridiculous and enraging, but people do believe this.
Michael Peroutka, a candidate best known for his ties to neo-Confederate organizations
He sounds like a QAnon. There’s very little daylight between their beliefs and the beliefs of today’s Nazis and neo-Confederates. Frankly it’s a white supremacist spectrum that encompasses a lot of people in this country. The ability to attract new believers among uneducated whites is becoming greater and greater due to the Internet and disinformation spread by organized secret societies.
If you go to the web site of the story you can see a blown up picture of the one in the tweet with him at the desk surrounded by girls. Notice the two little girls with signs who look like they cannot believe they had to come and do this cosplay. Hugs
Student athletes at Oklahoma public schools are now required to complete “biological sex affidavits” to determine whether they are eligible to participate in athletics as school districts begin enforcing a state law.
In March, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed into law the state’s “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which requires sports teams through college to be designated based on athletes’ “biological sex,” or sex assigned at birth.
In early July, the CBS-affiliate KOAM-TV reported that some school districts were beginning to distribute “biological sex affidavits” to student athletes to enforce the law.
In my 55 years on earth, I dont remember Republicans giving a crap about woman’s sports. I guess it took transgendered athletes to finally make them care.
This. My couldn’t-care-less-about-any-sports in the 30 years I’ve known him BIL (more an outdoor / photography / camping guy) suddenly started protesting to “save women’s sports” last year. The biggest farce I’ve ever seen – it was clear GQP talking points..
If this disqualifies someone from team sports, at least they won’t have to participate in public prayers at the 50-yard line. Always look on the bright side of life?
Are they going to do genetic testing for every child to confirm it? Are they going to pay for it? Isn’t there a HIPAA thing or is that out in Oklahoma?
After all the coverage of Lauren Hubbard, a trans woman weightlifter competing in the Olympics, she didn’t make a single lift when she’s in her prime age as a weightlifter and got clobbered by Li Wenwen, a 21 year old Chinese lifter who won her weight class (over 81 kg) on her first lift. She’s really a kid in the grand scheme of weightlifting and unless she gets injured, can compete in another 4 Olympics. You peak in your mid 30’s.
I’m pretty sure they went with the birth certificate as an end run around HIPAA. The birth certificate counts as state record, rather than medical record. And, no, they’re no going to pay for it.
Does this mean that transmen will now be competing in women’s sports? Or is it just a way to keep transgender people from competing in any sports at all? I think we know the answer to that…
The telling point is: will this apply equally to men’s sports as well? What if a high school’s star quarterback refuses to file such a document on general principles?
So the linked article is incorrect, and this will apply ONLY to (presumed) female students and not all students? That could be a problem if (presumed) male students are exempted, as that directly violates Title IX.
Waiting for one of these red school districts to defund/shutdown women’s sports in school and blame it on transgender students “ruining women’s sports for everyone.”
These people are scary. Go to the links to see what these people are really about. Complete hating white supremacists who want a country based on their hates and the complete white only ethnostate. While they mention god they don’t seem to be religious fanatics, but they do what all authority and rights for white males. Hugs
Congressional candidate Anthony Sabatini spoke Friday at a Tampa gathering of nationalists. “God bless the nationalist populist movement,” he said during his remarks. At the American Virtue conference, Sabatini trashed Republican Party leaders like Kevin McCarthy as “woke.”
He also advocated for a complete moratorium on all immigration and eliminating Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Sabatini, a candidate in Florida’s 7th Congressional District, greatly criticized U.S. involvement in defending Ukraine from Russian invasion.
At the “State of the Movement” conference, American Virtue presented itself, as the groypers once presented themselves, as a more far-right alternative to the campus conservative group Turning Point USA (TPUSA).
They deployed red-meat culture war broadsides against feminism and LGBTQ rights, Big Tech, and “woke hegemonic corporations,” and diatribes against RINOs, “communists,” and other named enemies.
As I’ve said here several times, Sabatini is perhaps the most extreme of all state reps – and that is saying something.
He last appeared on JMG when he floated a bill that would make taking children to drag shows a felony and “terminate the parental rights” of those convicted.
.@AnthonySabatini headlined a White nationalist convention in Tampa
His blast from a bunker had failed to reach the green and was nestled in some nasty rough. Instead, he had his caddie pick up the ball and march to the next tee.
On another hole, when a birdie putt rolled nearly six feet past the hole, he casually scooped the ball up to end the hole, apparently conceding himself a par. Try that this weekend in your match with your usual foursome. Or any foursome.
At other times, a Trump mis-hit would simply be ignored. As if understanding the drill, his caddie would retrieve the golf ball from the sand or deep rough and walk forward.
For those that follow golf and have been watching as players take the Saudi sports washing cash, you will be relieved to know that to clarify the politics of the LIV tour, Donald Trump, the well known golf cheat, hit the first shot at today’s “ tournament”.
Newsmax host: “It’s presidential to look like you’re playing golf. No one can imagine Joe Biden doing anything athletic like that .. Who looks more powerful? Donald Trump looks more powerful playing golf than Joe Biden.” pic.twitter.com/p17yURbDqp
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) July 29, 2022
"I've known these people for a long time in Saudi Arabia and they've been friends of mine for a long time … What they're doing for golf is so great."
An Oath Keeper from Idaho in Bozeman, Montana. William Campbell/Corbis via Getty Images
An alleged Oath Keeper was charged with sedition following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Police discovered Thomas Caldwell had a ‘death list’ that included the name of a Georgia election official.
Caldwell’s lawyer argued the list was part of a “doodle pad” that should be excluded from evidence.
While searching alleged Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell‘s home following the attack on the US Capitol just three days prior, police found a “death list” that included the name of a Georgia election official and their family member.
But in court documents viewed by Insider, Caldwell’s lawyer, David Fischer, argued the list is a “doodle pad.”
“From the search, law enforcement recovered a document that included the words “DEATH LIST” hand-written across the top with the name of a Georgia election official, a purported family member of that official, and the county and state associated with that official all hand-written underneath,” read the government’s motion regarding trial evidence.
The document also included hand-written notes relevant to the defendants’ preparations in advance of January 6, according to the government motion.
“This document is not a ‘list’ but, rather, a doodle pad. The words ‘death list’ are written in all caps, whereas the balance of writing on the doodle pad is written in upper and lower case letters,” read the defense’s motion to exclude the note pad evidence.
“Moreover, the words ‘death list’ are separated from the names of the election workers by scribbled writing, and were clearly written with a different pen. There are no other names on the ‘list,’ because it is not a list. Importantly, the names written on the doodle pad were not, as the Government claims, election ‘officials’ but, rather, temporary election workers.”
Fischer added that because the evidence would “highly prejudicial” to the defendant, there is “no need” for it to be introduced to a jury.
Caldwell is one of nine alleged Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. He is also charged with obstructing an official proceeding, destruction of government property, and unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds.
In its case against Caldwell, the government argues the Navy veteran — who once worked as a section chief for the FBI — holds a leadership role in the far-right anti-government militia called the Oath Keepers and was known to members as “Commander Tom.”
On January 6, Caldwell reportedly started a Facebook Live video taken from inside the Capitol building. According to charging documents, He also sent multiple Facebook messages to others reading, “We are surging forward. Doors breached” and “inside.” He described the experience as “storming the castle.”
Caldwell has denied being a member of the Oath Keepers, as well as all charges against him.
David Fischer, attorney for Caldwell, did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Freeman and Moss are the two election workers, of course, who were the subject of extraordinary threats after Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and their allies falsely accused them of election fraud. Both appeared at a public hearing of the Jan. 6 select committee last month.
He does this repeatedly. He gets told it is illegal and does it anyway. It is time he face some serious punishment. He is not the president and he doesn’t get to use that seal. If you and I were to do that we would face legal trouble. Hugs
Former President Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., was spotted continuing to use the presidential seal despite an ethics complaint and federal law potentially banning its use of the seal at the venue.
Photos taken Thursday while Trump hosted an event for the LIV Golf tournament, a Saudi-backed golf league that has faced controversy in light of the Saudi government’s alleged human rights abuses, showed the seal on various items, including golf carts.
The seal was plastered on towels, golf carts and other items as the former president participated in the pro-am event of the Saudi-sponsored tournament Thursday. It is against federal law to use the presidential and vice-presidential seals in ways that could convey “a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States.”
While violating this law could result in imprisonment of “not more than six months,” a fine or both, these punishments are rarely doled out. Trump has faced criticism from the survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and their family members for hosting the Saudi-backed golf tournament at his New Jersey resort — 50 miles from Ground Zero.
It would be bad enough for Donald Trump to be cozying up with Saudi Arabia. It’s worse that he’s also apparently breaking the law again at the same time. https://t.co/9kFrcGfYAm
A law is only a law if it’s actually enforced and when there are consequences for breaking it.
Really fucking sick and tired of this fat clown-painted spawn of Baron Harkonnen constantly getting away with blatant crimes simply because no prosecutor feels like dealing with him.
“It is against federal law to use the presidential and vice-presidential seals in ways that could convey “a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States.” Well let whoever is responsible for doling out the punishent for this get off of their ass and do it. We have had 4 years of this asshole flaunting laws and getting away with it. Enough!
