Sovereign citizen jailed for disruptive behaviour
A Nelson woman has been sentenced to 21 days in jail after treating a judge with “disdain and disrespect”, causing the judge to fear losing control over her courtroom.
Judge Jo Rielly told Megan Gordon that she had been repeatedly asked to stop interrupting at the Nelson District Court on Thursday.
Gordon was directed to leave the court, and to speak to a lawyer.
After returning to court, she went on to accuse Judge Rielly of “lying and embellishment”.
Gordon spoke over the judge, addressed her by her first name, was “disrespectful and rude” to Rielly, and was taken into custody because of her disruptive behaviour.
Gordon spent 27 hours in solitary before appearing before court once more yesterday afternoon.
Judge Rielly said she had done her best to accommodate Gordon’s wishes. However, she had been treated with “disdain and disrespect”. “I am sorry that you felt slighted,” was Gordon’s response.
Judge Rielly said she was unconvinced by Gordon’s carefully put together “veiled apology”, and said it appeared that she was feeling sorry for herself.
The judge said it was difficult to sentence a middle-aged woman to prison for disruptive behaviour or anything else, but Gordon had repeatedly conducted herself in an inappropriate way in court.
Her behaviour was “out of control”, and with Gordon’s associates and friends in the courtroom, the judge was concerned at how far that would extend out to other members of the public.
Gordon said she was representing as a “non-resident settlement”, and that Megan Gordon was an “artificial construct” from a birth certificate or a marriage certificate.
“I am not that. I am here as Megan Dale ... All charges are against the artificial construct.”
Rielly considered a starting point of four weeks’ jail, allowed one week’s discount for the absence of previous convictions, and arrived at a sentence of 21 days’ imprisonment.
“There is no victim,” Gordon cried out. “Where is the victim? I have done no wrong.”
Gordon’s trial, in which she defended herself, continued in her absence on Thursday, and she was found guilty on six charges, including refusing to stop for and resisting police, and refusing to give her details to officers.
She will be sentenced on these charges on April 8.
According to the police summary of facts, about 8pm on July 5, Gordon failed to stop at an alcohol checkpoint on Halifax St, Nelson. Police turned on their lights and sirens and followed her Audi along Haven Rd and on to Beachville Cres.
As she turned around at the end of the cul-de-sac, police positioned their vehicle to block the road. Gordon drove towards police, “reversed at speed into a bank”, and then drove towards police again.
She then locked her doors, and refused requests to get out and be breath tested. Police pepper sprayed and arrested her.
Inside the vehicle, Gordon kicked at police. She refused to give her details, and at the station, refused to give an evidential blood test.
She told police she “did not consent or recognise New Zealand police authority”, the summary said.
In 2022, Gordon was charged with wilful trespass after she locked herself inside a dog shelter where her unregistered dog was impounded.
She was also the subject of a civil action by the Nelson City Council for non-payment of rates, and had been subject to a Tenancy Tribunal ruling after a “vigilante” eviction attempt.
In previous court appearances, she had employed the pseudo-legal language common in the sovereign citizen movement, telling a judge she would step into the dock “only under duress”.
Gordon will be sentenced on her remaining charges on April 8.