REPORT: Aaron Walker Arrested After Maryland Hearing on Kimberlin Case UPDATE: Walker Now Released

Posted on | May 29, 2012 | 280 Comments

UPDATE 6:25 p.m. ET: Sources say that blogger Aaron Walker has been released from custody in Rockville, Maryland. He was charged with “incitement,” but released on his own recognizance. Readers are encouraged to donate to the National Bloggers Club to help support Aaron’s defense against Brett Kimberlin.

*** PREVIOUSLY (11:59 a.m.) ***

FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Aaron Walker, whose complaint against convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin became a conservative cause célèbre this past week, was reportedly taken into custody today after a court hearing in Rockville, Maryland.

One person who attended the hearing in Montgomery County District Court said that Kimberlin asserted that Walker’s continued blogging represented a violation of a “peace order” Kimberlin had obtained against the Virginia attorney, who says Kimberlin tried to “frame” him for assault earlier this year.

During the course of the hearing — which reportedly lasted about an hour — Judge C.J. Vaughey appeared to become increasingly hostile toward Walker, who was taken into custody when the hearing concluded.

On Thursday, May 17, Walker published a 28,000-word account of his experience being targeted by Kimberlin, which soon caught the attention of leading figures in online New Media, including University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, who writes the popular Instapundit blog, and bestselling author Michelle Malkin, who warned her readers, “Please remember: Kimberlin is a radical, violent, lying, dangerous felon.”

UPDATE: According to a source, Kimberlin claimed during the hearing that he has received death threats as a result of Walker’s violation of the peace order. In 1981, Kimberlin was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for his crimes, including the 1978 terrorist bombing that brutally maimed Vietnam veteran Carl DeLong.

UPDATE II: A copy of the “final peace order” (time-stamped 10:52 a.m.) states that Kimberlin is “in fear of imminent serious bodily harm” as a result of a “countless number” of death threats, and that “there is clear and convincing evidence that [Walker] is likely to commit a prohibited act in the future against [Kimberlin].”

UPDATE III: To understand what is going on here, please see my column today at The American Spectator:

During his time in federal prison, [Kimberlin] became a prodigious jailhouse lawyer, filing more than 100 actions on his own behalf, and his litigious habits have continued until this day. When Patrick Frey, the blogger known as Patterico, wrote about Kimberlin’s criminal past in 2010, he was immediately threatened with a libel suit. By then, Kimberlin had already sued Seth Allen, who eventually got legal assistance from Aaron Walker, a Virginia attorney who had blogged under the pseudonym “Aaron Worthing.” This evidently made Walker a target of Kimberlin’s harassment tactics, with the result that Walker says both he and his wife lost their jobs. . . .
Kimberlin’s critics say his litigation against Allen and Walker, and threats of action against others, are a type of “lawfare,” which is defined as “the illegitimate use of domestic or international law with the intention of damaging an opponent, winning a public relations victory, financially crippling an opponent, or tying up the opponent’s time so that they cannot pursue other ventures such as running for public office.” And this is part of what many see as a wide-ranging strategy of intimidation waged against conservatives . . .

Read the whole thing. I’m still trying to confirm facts about Walker’s hearing and reported arrest.

UPDATE IV: Just spoke to a source who confirms that witnesses saw Walker led out of the courtroom in handcuffs. Ali Akbar, president of the National Bloggers Club, Tweets:

Will know more on Aaron’s situation at 3:30/4:30pm.

The National Bloggers Club has created KimberlinFiles.org to help call attention to the case and to enable “supporters to make financial donations to a relief fund as a show of support.”

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

THE KIMBERLIN FILES:

UPDATE V: Welcome Ace of Spades HQ readers!

Now a Memeorandum thread, with links by The Jawa Report, Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit, Wake up America, Bob Owens, Capitalist Preservation, Legal Insurrection, FilmLadd Blogs, That Mr. G Guy’s Blog and Truth Before Dishonor — thanks!

Michelle Malkin has been absolutely on fire over this.

UPDATE VI: Linked at Twitchy, Popehat, Nice Deb, Sooper Mexican, Darth Chipmunk, Daily Pundit, Andrew J. Patrick, Daley Gator, PJ Tatler and The Camp of the Saints — thanks! — and welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE VII: A witness blogs about the hearing:

It went bad for Walker pretty quickly. . . .
Judge Vaughey had read up on the matter, knew Kimberlin’s history of felony convictions, but clearly was technically ignorant of even basic facts about what Twitter is, in one instance point saying “He Googled you 500,000 times” through the Tubes or whatever. The Judge had identified himself, earlier, as being “of the Royal Typewriter Generation,” and at another point, when confronted with the voluminous material from both sides, asked “don’t people have jobs, who reads this stuff?”
That said, Judge Vaughey did know a lot about the kind of respect a Judge is owed. He also, again, knew all about Kimberlin, saying “even a prostitute is entitled to protection.”
And Walker pissed him off. So did Kimberlin, but Walker identified himself as a Yale-trained lawyer, albeit one who was representing himself. Kimberlin made any number of allegations — essentially, everything that was said about his side -– issuing death threats, harming business interests, summoning SWAT teams to the home–was said by Kimberlin to have been done by Walker’s side.
The pair went back and forth, back and forth, with Walker getting increasingly flustered, and the Judge finally asking, “what did they tell you in Yale Law School about interrupting a judge?”

My own source who was on the scene said of Judge Vaughey: “He couldn’t find the Internet to save his life.”

Comments

280 Responses to “REPORT: Aaron Walker Arrested After Maryland Hearing on Kimberlin Case UPDATE: Walker Now Released”

Adobe_Walls
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:21 pm

It may not be his job, he did familiarize himself with the case he could at least have asked one of his Grand kids what Twitter was when deciding a case say involving guns it would be nice if the judge knew they didn’t shoot arrows. In any case it would appear that Walker sank his opportunity to educate the judge on the matter.
Adjoran
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:21 pm

“The Internet” is irrelevant; the case is about the law.

Instead of rebutting Kimberlin’s case calmly and rationally, and getting straight to the points of law, Aaron seems to have fallen into the trap of getting into a tit-for-tat argument with BK, trying to contradict every single word, even after being repeatedly warned by the judge.

Want to lose a case? Start by pissing off the judge.
Bob Belvedere
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:22 pm

I just Tweeted them.
Bob Belvedere
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:23 pm

His mistake is understandable given the stress he has been under.
Adjoran
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:26 pm

Peace orders/Restraining orders are civil proceedings, although violating an order can carry both civil and criminal penalties. Aaron blew off the first hearing, a huge tactical mistake.

Judges tend to grant those orders of protection when requested just to cover their own butts if something happens. In this County, they had a very high profile case just last year, so judges are especially cautious.

Aaron still could have prevailed, but not the way he approached the hearing. He was too much emotionally involved, apparently lost his cool, and angered the judge by constantly interrupting him.

Being right on the facts is not much help if you have incompetent counsel who turns the judge against you. Aaron has no one to blame but himself.
Trevor Loudon's New Zeal Blog
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:26 pm

[…] REPORT: Aaron Walker Arrested After Maryland Hearing on Kimberlin Case […]
Breaking… Blogger Aaron Walker Arrested after Maryland Hearing on Kimberlin Case
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:27 pm

[…] REPORT: Aaron Walker Arrested After Maryland Hearing on Kimberlin Case […]
Adobe_Walls
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:30 pm

He also avoids the risks of attorney misconduct.
Adjoran
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:31 pm

He has nothing of value in his name to lose. He lives with his mother, who also has a large judgement against him – so if he happens to come into any money, he can claim to have paid her instead of the other judgement(s) hanging over him.

The filings of the non-profits he “works” for are so opaque they could be paying him all sorts of in-kind benefits that don’t get declared as income.

The ONLY way to beat such a foe is to 1) shame his major donors so the money flow dries up, and 2) have him designated a “vexatious litigant,” which would restrict his ability to file all these lawsuits.

Blog posts and tweets can spread the word, but until those things happen, Kimberlin is drinking beer and laughing at us.
#BrettKimberlin BREAKING: Another Critic of Convicted Terrorist Brett Kimberlin Has Been Swatted! (Update: Erickson Speaks!) « Truth Before Dishonor
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:31 pm

[…] Led Out Of Cour…Everyone Blog About … on Aaron Worthing Led Out Of Cour…REPORT: Aaron Walker… on #BrettKimberlin Continues With…Foxfier on My Local Police Department Doe…Foxfier […]
E. Lee
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:34 pm

Excellent!
Zilla of the Resistance
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:35 pm

I don’t know who BK’s lawyer was, but I did read that he did HAVE one there, unlike Aaron who really should have. Did ANYONE advise Aaron not to go in alone? Are there NO lawyers interested in protecting free speech against a freaking terrorist who would be wiling to help? It cannot be possible that ALL lawyers are far left fucking kooks, SOMEBODY has to be willing to step up!
ThomasD
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:38 pm

You’d think all Walker had to do was deny the claims, and then mention that Kimberlin is a convicted perjurer, while he himself is not.

Then, of course, shut the hell up.

Apparently they don’t teach common sense at Yale.
Free Aaron! « That Innocuous Girl
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:39 pm

[…] So the result of the hearing between Kimberlin and Aaron Walker was Aaron was arrested. […]
alwaysfiredup
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:41 pm

I don’t care who the messenger is; personally, I’m fairly convinced Worthing is a jacka$$ blowhard. But I do not believe he was jailed for being a bad lawyer or pi$$ing the judge off. We will see.
Zilla of the Resistance
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:43 pm

There are also the lawyers who frequently defend Geller & Spencer and fight to prevent the implementation of sharia in the USA:
http://www.americanfreedomlawcenter.org/
They say they are dedicating to fighting to protect free speech and have an excellent track record.
They follow me on Twitter, so I sent them a direct message.
If I don’t anything I’ll tweet them publicly as well.
I also left a comment at Atlas asking Pamela to see if anyone among her contacts might be willing to help Aaron.

I wonder if any of our friends have contacts with the Judicial Watch site’s people?
ThePaganTemple
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:47 pm

If that Update VII is accurate, that Walker must be one stupid son of a bitch. I don’t have any money to send him anyway, bu if I did there are plenty of good no-kill animal shelters more deserving of my help.
ThomasD
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:47 pm

Aaron had an attorney. What he needed was a competent – and dispassionate one.
Adobe_Walls
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:48 pm

What area of law does Aaron Walker practice?
While I was misspending my youth I had a friend who was a patent lawyer when I had to go to court I got him to recommend a good defense lawyer. He never had to explain to me why he shouldn’t be my attorney.
Zilla of the Resistance
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:52 pm

Agreed. The poor guy. It is really hard to make good decisions under stress, and Aaron has had far more than most strong people could stand. May God and his Angels protect him and give him strength to get through this nightmare. I feel really bad for his wife too.
alwaysfiredup
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:54 pm

The petitioner in a civil case has the burden to articulate a cause of action. The petitioner in a civil case has the burden to prove the case by the preponderance of evidence. BK didn’t do these things; no evidence of death threats was offered at all. Instead the burden was placed on AW to refute unproven accusations. It’s not proper.
ThomasD
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:56 pm

Representing yourself is never irrelevant. If eyewitness accounts are to be believed Walker let himself be goaded into a terrible tactical position and foolish emotional behavior.

Walker went in an honest, learned, licensed man. An officer of the court.

Kimberlin walked in a convicted felon (perjurer, no less.)

Yet, in a case consisting entirely of he-said, he-said it was Kimberlin who came out on top.

The math is not that complex.
Zilla of the Resistance
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:56 pm

I have an alternate blog that I opened long before I moved off of blogger to a private server, the reason why I mention this is because it’s a wordpress.com blog meaning that if I push the “reblog” button for lazy bloggers when I visit another wp blog, I can instantly post it to my blog Femininican which is still in some people’s blogrolls. I will go to your site and use that button and do exactly as you suggest, I will reblog them all.
I will be doing a big blog post about this at my main site some time this evening and I’ll link you there as well.
Thanks for your great work!
JosephS
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:57 pm

Kimberlin’s insane evilness aside, grabbing someone’s iPad at a court hearing is a stupid thing to do, and is the kind of thing which will get you arrested. Walker’s an attorney, and he should know better than to do that at a hearing. It’s precisely the kind of overreaction that gives one’s opponents a cheap victory. Given Kimberlin’s evil lawfare crusade, he’s probably fortunate Kimberlin didn’t claim it was robbery.

As for the “Peace Order”, it strikes me as obviously violating the 1st Amendment and Communications Decency Act. The thing is, apart from being evil, Kimberlin is clearly pretty smart: an ancient state court judge probably has no idea about any of that, and will grant a restraining order on the basis of anything. Tactically, it’s a very clever abuse of the legal system, approximately on a par with racists in the Civil Rights era using laws against interference with business to restrain boycott campaigns.
Datechguy's Blog » Blog Archive » The law is only as good as the judge you have Aaron Worthing in custody » Datechguy's Blog
May 29th, 2012 @ 5:59 pm

[…] Stacy McCain: (Still in hiding) That Kimberlin is the plaintiff in such an action — claiming that a law-abiding attorney is somehow threatening the safety of a convicted violent felon — is deeply ironic. Federal prosecutors once hoped that Kimberlin would never again be able to “terrorize any other citizen,” yet he is now terrorizing them just as surely as he ever did during his infamous days as the Speedway Bomber. […]
NeoSexist
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:04 pm

Holy shit. Yeah, that’s all I got. The mind boggles.
Adobe_Walls
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:05 pm

Other people already KNOW they can do it, today’s outcome will certainly encourage them.
Quartermaster
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:07 pm

The courtroom belongs to the Judge, and it is his duty not to get sidetracked. If he allowed BK to sidetrack, or otherwise get off subject, it is the duty of the judge to bring the proceeding back on track. If Walker was getting flustered, the judge really owed it to him to call a recess to allow tempers to cool. Such recesses happen as a matter of course in highly charged proceedings, and this was one of them.

The Judge also owed it to both parties to be prepared to deal with technical issues. Just because he’s of the manual typewriter generation is no excuse. He failed in his duty to not be familiar with the issues before making any sort of ruling in the case.

There is so much wrong here that one had a hard time finding the place to start. The Judge is largely at fault for the outcome, even if it were better to not have represented himself. The Judge *HAS* committed and outrage and should be removed from the bench for demonstrating both his incompetence, his prejudicial behavior, and his lack of judicial temperament. He’s a lawless man. Period.
NeoSexist
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:08 pm

Shit just got surreal. The mind boggles. I am reminded of the Onion video about Kafka intl airport.
alwaysfiredup
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:09 pm

Yes, well, except that he didn’t do it. There was court surveillance video showing AW didn’t grab the ipad, and the assault charge was dismissed. The Blaze is not accurate as to the cause of today’s arrest.

As to the Peace Order, it is unconstitutional to the extent it forbids AW from blogging or tweeting about BK. The PO can only constitutionally prohibit directly contacting BK. http://volokh.com/2012/05/29/aaron-walker-brett-kimberlin-and-the-fog-of-litigation/

What I am hearing from Adjoran et al is that the judge and/or legal system is not at fault for arresting someone on the basis of an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech, it is instead the arrestee’s fault if he/she does not get a good lawyer. This is bass-ackward.
ThomasD
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:11 pm

You’d think someone close to him would have counseled against going in solo.
NanaRant
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:12 pm

OMG

This is Orwellian scary!

It’s all over the web now. Will the MSM cover it?
novaculus
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:21 pm

I did some checking. Someone in the clerk’s office is giving out some bad info, I think, to the effect that Walker was arrested on a warrant in the 2nd degree assault case Kimberlin had caused to be filed.

But it appears that Walker was arrested in a new case (5D00279004) for Failure to Obey a Peace Order. The warrant was issued MAY 27, 2012.

Looks like Kimberlin gamed the system again. He knows how the system works, particularly as it relates to these peace orders. He apparently filed a new claim that Walker violated the previously issued temporary peace order late last week. Those are processed immediately, and so over the weekend a commissioner seeing only the PC affidavit and the charges found probable cause and issued a warrant as a matter of course.

No doubt Kimberlin advised the sheriff’s office that the subject of the brand new warrant was going to be in court this morning.

A commissioner eill review Walker’s detention this afternoon.

Update: Walker has been released from custody.
Adobe_Walls
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:21 pm

Apparently BK did manage to convince the judge that thousands of tweets etc. were sent by or caused to be sent by Aaron Walker to BK.
Adjoran
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:28 pm

Buckley hired Rich Lowry.
Breaking… Blogger Aaron Walker Arrested after Maryland Hearing on Kimberlin Case | askmarion
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:30 pm

[…] REPORT: Aaron Walker Arrested After Maryland Hearing on Kimberlin Case — Aaron Walker, whose complaint against convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin became a conservative cause célèbre this past week, was reportedly taken into custody today after a court hearing in Rockville, Maryland. […]
Adjoran
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:31 pm

No, he didn’t – he had an attorney friend in the audience, who at one point signaled to him to “zip his lip,” according to reports, but was NOT his attorney of record and did not sit at the table.
Adjoran
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:33 pm

What apparently happened is BK made the allegation and AW lost his cool and failed to refute it. Again, that is why you don’t represent yourself.
Adjoran
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:36 pm

Wrong. An order of protection is an issue of law. Judges typically grant them absent strong evidence of undue burden of compliance. It was up to the party to prove his case, not the judge.
alwaysfiredup
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:37 pm

Prime example of an idiot judge who does not know what he is talking about. I don’t care how inept AW was, this is the fault of the court, not AW.
alwaysfiredup
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:38 pm

…aaaaaand I was right, not arrested for contempt.
Adjoran
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:39 pm

Since those aren’t criminal offenses, that’s a fair guess. He was jailed for violating the original order, and released ROR.
Free Aaron Walker!
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:39 pm

[…] Stacy McCain’s headline was changed; apparently, Walker has been released—so thank goodness for small […]
#BrettKimberlin Associate Ron Brynaert’s Reckless Disregard for the Truth « Truth Before Dishonor
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:41 pm

[…] Led Out Of Cour…Everyone Blog About … on Aaron Worthing Led Out Of Cour…REPORT: Aaron Walker… on #BrettKimberlin Continues […]
alwaysfiredup
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:42 pm

Just because A happened and B happened does NOT mean A caused B. AW did not hire a lawyer. AW did a terrible job representing himself. But AW was not arrested due to either of these things. AW was arrested because of BK’s getting an arrest warrant on very flimsy bases on a Sunday and having it served at a Tuesday morning hearing. It would have happened with or without a lawyer present. Stop missing the point.
Just look what happened in the Brett Kimberlin saga while I was at work « The Daley Gator
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:43 pm

[…] while I was working, other bloggers were all over this. Stacy McCain fills us in on the arrest of Aaron Walker after a Maryland court hearing today on the Brett Kimberlin case. Walker has been released. He was charged with “incitement,” but released on his own […]
Evi L. Bloggerlady
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:47 pm

This is true.

WFB hired Jonah Goldberg and Jim Geraghty too and I like Jonah and Jim. And I think he also got Victor Davis Hanson writing for NR too.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:48 pm

And I linked you.
McGehee
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:50 pm

To that I can offer only my wholehearted agreement.
Manicmonkeymojo
May 29th, 2012 @ 6:59 pm

The latest reporting (still not verified) is that W/W was arrested on what some are terming a warrant for violation of a peace order, which should be nothing more than contempt of court unless MD has different laws than most of the country.

The gist of the reporting regarding the arrest appears to be that Kimberlin filed something (exactly what remains elusive) for the supposed warrant last Friday, and somehow the local sheriff was made aware of W/W’s presence in court today.

This seems off because other reporting suggests that the Kimberlin’s previous peace order against W/W had been vacated, which means that there was nothing before the court on this front.

However, having quickly looked at some publicly available materials regarding peace orders, and based upon the foregoing, Kimberlin could have filed for a new peace order on Friday, submitted to a quick preliminary hearing that same day, which would lead to an enforceable temporary restraining order once it was served upon W/W. But, then again, we have no information to suggest that W/W was served with anything for this new peace order, which means that it could not have been binding upon W/W.

Perhaps the original peace order was not vacated or dismissed, and today’s hearing was a continuation of, or a re-hearing for, the evidentiary hearing on the original peace order. Indeed, perhaps the original peace order has been in force and effect the entire time, but on a temporary basis, awaiting further evidence by the parties. Another possibility is that Kimberlin has filed so many of these things against W/W that he used proof of service in one case to support another case, and then sought enforcement by the sheriff’s office today. Still another possibility is that the sheriff’s office simply did not look at what Kimberlin presented, and acted as a matter of habit, especially if the offender was readily available for arrest.

In any case, all Kimberlin had to do was printout what’s been going on in the internet, mischaracterize those printouts, and assert that he felt threatened because of those printouts.

All of this is strange, and requires quite a bit of additional, on the ground reporting. Blogging isn’t enough, and people that are blogging about what is going on need to have a better handle on actual legal terminology, and the legal process. As sympathetic as I am to W/W, his cause is not being served by lots of people with little understanding of the legal system interjecting supposition mixed with inaccurate depictions of factual matters into this very important story.

Kimberlin may have issues, but it’s clear that he got the best of W/W today. It’s also clear that W/W needs help from a lawyer that does this sort of thing on a daily basis. Kimberlin knows what he’s doing, and is smart enough to make things happen; W/W should be scared of this guy. Hell, anyone targeted by Kimberlin should be scared, but I guess that’s the point, right?

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The Other McCain

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REPORT: Aaron Walker Arrested After Maryland Hearing on Kimberlin Case UPDATE: Walker Now Released

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