Bail dropped in cop dragging case

WEST CHESTER >> A Common Pleas Court judge reduced bail for an Immaculata University student accused of dragging a police officer with her car after a routine traffic stop, but not before questioning the woman’s antigovernment views and whether they would give her the idea that she could decide whether or not to appear for court in the future if released.

“She has written she is not an American citizen,” and instead proclaimed herself to be part of the “Moorish American” movement, said Senior Judge Robert Shenkin Friday during a hearing the request to decrease bail for the woman, Janay Rebecca Smith. “Wy shouldn’t I take that into consideration?”

In her case file, the judge noted, were at least two letters she admitted to writing in which she takes issue with “the jurisdiction of the courts of Pennsylvania” and the United States, Shenkin told Assistant Public Defender Peter Jurs, who represents Smith and had asked Shenkin to reduce her bail for $100,000 in cash to 10 percent of $5,000, OR $500.

“It plays into her incentive to flee,” Shenkin said of her anti-government beliefs. Her statements, he said, “raise serious doubts that Ms. Smith recognizes the authority of the courts.”

Jurs, who appeared surprised at the existence of the letters and Smith’s unusual views, nevertheless asked Shenkin to reduce her bail, owing to the fact she had no prior criminal record and was a Dean’s list student at the school in East Whiteland.

“She assures me she will comply in every way with her bail restrictions,” Jurs said.

Smith, 27, of Philadelphia is facing charges of aggravated assault of a police officer, recklessly endangering another person, fleeing or attempting to elude, resisting arrest and related charges stemming from the Dec. 20 incident in Malvern, a few miles from the Immaculata campus.

Deputy District Attorney Michelle Frei, who is prosecuting the case, told Shenkin that her office was “adamantly opposed” to any reduction in Smith’s bail, not only because her anti-government views called into question whether she would ever appear for trial if released, but also because of the nature of the crime she is accused of committing.

“She is a danger to the community,” Frei said.

Ultimately, Shenkin agreed to reduce bail to 10 percent of $35,000, but not before getting Smith to acknowledge that the courts had authority over her case, and that she would comply with bail restrictions, which include appearing for court when summoned.

“If you are released, will you comply with (the bail) conditions?” he asked the woman. “Yes, I will,” she answered.

It was different tone than what was apparent in a letter Smith mailed to the court from her cell at the Chester County Prison, where she has been held since her arrest. In the letter, which was typed, she takes issue with the notion of American citizenship, stating that she was part of the “Moor” nation, and

questioned whether there was any justification for her being held for trial.

“i am jahnay rebekkah bey moorish american aboriginal and indiginous to the land,” the letter reads.

“i am in propria persona as my self for my self free white person at law,” she wrote in the rambling three-page missive. “i am not a 14th amendment construct or artificial person i am declared national i am an african descendant not us citizens as us citizen ship is unlawful pursuant to the constitution article 13.”

In Shenkin’s courtroom, however, Smith appeared frightened, spoke politely, and expressed none of the quixotic views contained in the letter — although she did have trouble explaining where she lived and with whom. Her address is listed on court documents as Springfield Avenue in Philadelphia, but elsewhere as on North 57th Street in the city.

According to the Southern

Poverty Law Center, the national organization that tracks hate groups and other fringe movements, the Moorish Americans are a collection of “independent organizations and lone individuals that emerged in the early 1990s as an offshoot of the antigovernment sovereign citizens movement, which believes that individual citizens hold sovereignty over, and are independent of, the authority of federal and state governments.”

Among other things, such individuals refuse to acknowledge the need to obtain driver’s licenses, register their vehicles, or submit to traffic laws, because they contend those laws are only for “conveyances” that are engaged in commercial dealings. In fact, Smith allegedly told officers the night of the incident that she did not have to show any driver’s ID because she was “not driving as that is an act of commerce,” and she was not engaged in any such activity.

According to a criminal complaint filed against Smith by Officer Stephan Walker of the Malvern Police Department, the incident began about 9:10 p.m. on Dec. 20 when Officer Tyler Bury saw a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo run through a stop sign on Sugartown Road near the Raintree Apartment complex. Bury followed the car and watched as the driver failed to stop at three stop signs along King Street in the borough.

When the Monte Carlo turned into the Malvern Shopping Center on King Street, Bury approached and knocked on the driver’s side door to get the driver’s attention. The female driver rolled her window down a few inches ad told Bury to “wait a minute.” Asked for a driver’s license, she insisted she was an “American National,” and provided only a self-issued, non-state identification card, which listed her name as Jahnay Rebekkah Bey.

Moorish American followers many time use the surname Bey, after one of the movement’s early leaders, Taj Tarik Bey.

When Bury could find no record of a driver’s license for Smith, he was joined by Officer Patrick Dougherty. They requested identification, which Smith allegedly refused to provide. When Dougherty told her she would be detained until she provided valid identification, she began to resist and refused to exit the car. The officers then both tried to forcibly remove her from the Monte Carlo, but as she struggled she was able to rev the engine and put the car in drive. It accelerated away.

Dougherty, who had grasped onto Smith’s arm, was dragged approximately 10 to 15 feet by the car before rolling away onto the pavement.

Smith drove from the scene, but was stopped by Tredyffrin police about 30 minutes later on Route 30

and taken into custody. Dougherty, who was in the courtroom Friday during the bail hearing, missed about one week of work after being treated for his injuries at Paoli Hospital.

In agreeing to reduce her bail, Shenkin nevertheless warned her that her antigovernment beliefs might cause her more trouble than they are worth.

“If you continue to rely on such statements (as were in her letter), you are risking serious potential problems in addition to the serious problems you are already facing,” he told Smith. “You have to seriously consider your best interests in the real world.”

It was unclear on Sunday whether Smith had been able to post the $3,500 necessary for her release.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan, please call 610-696-1544.