ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602140060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
A man convicted on gun charges is too rich for a fee waiver if he files a civil lawsuit against the judge that tried him, a circuit judge ruled Tuesday.
But Judge Colin Gibb also said that if William Stump II files the lawsuit, he would dismiss it.
A federal jury in Roanoke convicted Stump in September of two charges for illegal possession of two unregistered silencers that had no serial numbers. The jury found him innocent of conspiring with other members of the Blue Ridge Hunt Club to possess illegal weapons.
The silencers had been manufactured by club President James Roy Mullins, who is serving a five-year sentence for other weapons violations. Federal authorities contended that club members planned to stockpile weapons against a time when governmental gun controls might increase.
Stump wants to file a $5 million civil lawsuit against U.S. Judge Jackson Kiser, who presided over his case, challenging an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution that allows federal courts to have jurisdiction in such cases. Stump also argues that, if he were sent to prison, his life would be in danger through exposure to prisoners who might threaten his life by violence, through the AIDS virus or through other communicable diseases.
Kiser has imposed no sentence yet. Snow canceled court when Stump was scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 2, and no new sentencing date has been set.
In Tuesday's hearing in Pulaski County Circuit Court, Stump tried to argue that he should not be charged a fee to file his civil lawsuit against Kiser. He said such state officers as sheriffs or prosecutors do not pay the fees and that any citizen should have the same privilege.
Gibb told Stump that the law allows such fees to be waived in cases in which the plaintiff is indigent, but Stump has more than $3,200 in the bank.
"I owe $7,000 of that," Stump said. "And, besides, it's not my money. It's my wife's money." Stump said that he has not worked since Aug. 4, 1994, when his legal troubles began, and that he is dependent on his wife.
Gibb said documents submitted to the court show the account as being in both their names.
"I'm not keeping you from filing the suits," Gibb said. "If you want to spend your money to file these suits, you have a right to." But he said he had read Stump's suit against Kiser and, "if you file the suit, I would dismiss it on a motion."
Stump later told a few supporters who came to court with him that he might add Gibb's name to his lawsuits against those he claims are denying him his rights, but "I've got to think about it before I do anything."
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB