Crazy "Sovereign Citizens" murder in Florida

[marmar]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man who questioned government authority over individuals living in the U.S. through an online forum was fatally shot, allegedly by a woman who has espoused similar “sovereign citizen” views, police said Tuesday.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that Neely Petrie-Blanchard was arrested in Georgia one day after the killing of Christopher Hallett in his Ocala-area home. Witnesses to the shooting said Petrie-Blanchard accused Hallett of working with the government to deny her custody of her children.

Hallett, 50, ran an entity called E-Clause LLC that featured a Facebook page filled with documents, graphics and articles about whether governments have authority in many instances over individuals. This viewpoint is frequently summarized as the “sovereign citizen” movement. .............(more)

https://whdh.com/news/police-man-who-questioned-government-powers-fatally-shot-by-woman-with-sovereign-citizen-views/

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Win-win?

1 gone, the other in prison? Is this really a bad social outcome?

[JanMichael]

2. No. It is a win-win. nt

[Thomas Hurt]

3. Sovereign citizens types are nutjobs and grifters.

[mr_lebowski]

4. Well ... uh ... lie down with dogs? nt

[Wounded Bear]

5. Better they are killing each other than the alternative...

[BGBD]

6. This was a guy who was deeply involved

with the QANON belief that CPS and foster systems were just fronts for deep state child sex trafficking. There have been several instances of this leading to biological parents kidnapping their children during visits and in at least one. case to a militia planning a violent raid on a foster home.

I'm not about to lose sleep on this one because the world it probably better off with him dead and with her locked up where she can't hurt anyone else.

[LuvLoogie]

7. Custody denial was the right decision, apparently.

[gratuitous]

8. Just because of the murder thing?

Geez, it's like a mother's love counts for nothing in Florida!

[Fla Dem]

9. WSJ Article (Photo of Christopher Hallett's & Neely Petrie-Blanchard together)

How a Custody Fight Plus QAnon Turned Deadly

Christopher Hallett’s unorthodox legal theories gave Neely Petrie-Blanchard hope, and his online community of QAnon believers gave her a way to make sense of her disordered life

By Georgia Wells in Ocala, Fla., and Justin Scheck in Youngstown, Ohio
April 2, 2021 11:19 am ET

Christopher Hallett spent years helping Neely Petrie-Blanchard fight for custody of her daughters. Then on the evening of Nov. 15, she shot him in the head in his Ocala, Fla., home. While blood pooled beneath Mr. Hallett’s dying body, Ms. Petrie-Blanchard declared her motive. She was convinced Mr. Hallett had joined a cabal of government Satanists to steal her children.

Mr. Hallett was a self-appointed expert in child-custody law, with no formal legal training, whose theories about corruption in the legal system attracted thousands of followers on YouTube and Facebook .

He used what he called calculus equations to prove his legal arguments and said he was helping to advise President Donald Trump on a new Justice Department, according to his followers.

Some of Mr. Hallett’s followers said in comments and on regular video calls that pedophiles in the Pentagon steal children. Some ascribed to QAnon, which claims a high-ranking whistleblower is exposing the activity. Some said the Earth is flat.

Ms. Petrie-Blanchard, who is now 34 years old, posted photos online in a QAnon shirt and claimed her own custody troubles were connected to dark government machinations. At one point, said a person close to her, she said Mr. Hallett might be Q—the shadowy figure whose online postings form the basis for the QAnon ideology.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-online-conspiracies-turn-deadly-a-custody-battle-and-a-killing-11617376764