Jeff Sessions (right), with Thomas S. Smith Jr.
and Thomas S. Smith III
(From stopjudicialcorruption.com)
John Burt Caylor reported on his Facebook page that he had just been released from a Florida jail, having been charged with publishing expunged criminal records -- and he now is wanted on similar charges in Alabama. Baldwin County Judge C. Joseph Norton ordered removal of Caylor's Web site, insider-magazine.com, because it included unflattering portrayals of Dothan attorney Thomas S. Smith Jr. and his son, Thomas S. Smith III, according to a report at stopjudicialcorruption.com (SJC).
The Smiths are confidants of U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney general, even though the younger Smith has an arrest for methamphetamine possession in his background, SJC reports. Smith III apparently got his criminal record expunged and went on to clerk for U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade, who authored Alabama's gay-marriage opinion and also has strong ties to Jeff Sessions. Caylor wrote about the younger Smith's expunged criminal record, and that (on the surface) is what got him in trouble with law enforcement in two states. From SJC:
Apparently Judge C. Joseph Norton doesn’t believe Americans should have first Amendment Constitutional rights. Norton ORDERED the closing of, Insider Magazine, John Caylor’s website, at a time he knew Caylor was jailed for first amendment issues in Florida. Caylor had 5 Days to respond to prevent the shut down of his site. Norton knew Caylor couldn’t respond because he was a guest of Bay County Jail. NORTON THEN SEALED THE RECORD. Everything was perfectly timed and orchestrated through a consorted group of perfectly controlled public servants. That is how corruption rolls through Alabama; secret, backroom meetings where a plan is initiated, then rolled out clean and smooth in public. Typically as in this case, if it involves a court action, records are sealed, lost or expunged to cover soiled tracks and prevent the public from knowing the orchestrated truth about their public servants.
How does Jeff Sessions enter the picture, aside from his ties to the Smiths and Granade? Part of it is self preservation, according to SJC:
It appears John Caylor’s arrest and the closing of his online magazine were orchestrated to protect Jeff Sessions while he is undergoing congressional and media scrutiny prior to U.S. Attorney General confirmation hearings. Immediately prior to his arrest, Caylor had stated on Facebook that he was going to testify against Sessions’s confirmation before the Senate Judiciary Commission.
What does Caylor know, why would Jeff Sessions be afraid of him, and why would Caylor expect to be called before the Senate Judiciary Committee for Sessions confirmation hearings? I don't have the answer to any of those questions at the moment. But it is ironic that Caylor appears to be the victim of an injunction, an unlawful "prior restraint" under decades of First Amendment law, much like the one Alabama GOP thug Rob Riley and lobbyist Liberty Duke sought to have me thrown in jail.
SPC cites a portion of a letter from domain site GoDaddy.com, instructing Caylor that he must remove certain items from his Web site, per a court-issued injunction:
Dear John Caylor,Insider-magazine.com:
Per the attached order received you must remove the following information from the two websites above by Tuesday 12/20 in order to avoid suspension of the websites. You will need to respond to this email when this has been completed:
* First story contains a hyperlink headline stating that Mr. Smith is a member of the “Russian Mafia,” “Gangster’s Grandson,” and had his “Criminal History Hidden.” These statements are covered by the injunction. . . .
* Approximately the sixth headline reads as follows: “THIS STORY ABOUT FEDERAL JUDGE GINNY GRANADE ACCEPTING A BRIBE AND ENGINEERING THE GRANDSON OF A MAFIA BOSS TO CLERK INSIDE HER COURT AND COVER UP-COCAINE CABAL HAD CAUSED ME GREAT HARM AS SESSIONS, TRUMP, GRANADE AND OTHERS ARE DESPERATELY SEEKING TO SILENCE ME . . .
* Approximately the seventh headline reads as follows: “Click Here Ginny Granade the Lesbian Gay Marriage Judge does not want anyone to see this. US Marshall Josh Devine is working to keep it Silenced. . . . Granade is behind Judge Roy Moore Removal. I met with Judge Moore’s Chief of staff 3 to 4 weeks ago and gave him the info on Granade and Mafia. SPLC and Granade are trying to remove him. . . . ”
* Approximately the ninth headline reads as follows: “Scott Smith’s III, EXPUNGED METH TRAFFICKING record paved WAY FOR MAFIA SPY to Clerk as Chief Federal Judge Ginny Granade’s Law Clerk-Granade Reported to be Bi-Sexual is behind JUDGE ROY MOORE’S REMOVAL I met with . . . Judge Moore’s Chief of staff 3 to 4 weeks ago and gave him this info on Granade.”
As you can see by clicking this link to Caylor's Web site, it has, in fact disappeared. How could that happen? Well, it looks like a Baldwin County judge unilaterally issued an injunction, claiming certain material is false and defamatory -- even though there has been no trial, and no jury, to make that determination. That is very similar to what Rob Riley and Liberty Duke caused to happen in my case, using specially appointed and grossly corrupt judge Claud Neilson.
John Caylor
There might be one major difference between my case and Caylor's case: It's possible Caylor did, in fact, violate the law. In my case, there never was any hint of a criminal claim (until deputies beat me up in my own home and then claimed I "resisted arrest") and the civil-contempt charge that sent me to jail came even though I never was lawfully served with the complaint and never received a summons to appear in court.As for Caylor, here is what Lagniappe Mobile says about the law connected to his case:
Caylor appears to be the first person in Alabama arrested under a 2014 law allowing people who have arrest records for non-violent offenses expunge those records. But the law also criminalized publication of such records, a situation that creates potential First Amendment issues and could put news organizations in danger of arrest for publishing factual information. . . .
According to the law, sponsored as a bill by former State Sen. Roger Bedford (D-Russellville), persons charged with certain misdemeanor criminal offenses, traffic violations or municipal ordinance violations may apply to have their record expunged. Those charged with non-violent felonies can also seek an expungement if the charge was dismissed with prejudice, no-billed by a grand jury, the person was found not guilty of the charge or the charge was dismissed without prejudice more than two years ago and has not been refiled, or in the case of a pre-trial diversion program.
What happened in the Smith case? Lagniappe explains:
In Smith’s case, he was arrested in 2001 when he was 21 and charged with possession of methamphetamine, according to court records. His case was dismissed after he completed a pre-trial diversion program.
Reasonable people can debate the wisdom of Alabama's law, but as it's described at Lagniappe, Caylor appears to have violated the law, and his arrest likely was legitimate.
Caylor provided an update on his situation in a Facebook post dated January 8. Much of it is hard to decipher, so I will publish a portion of it below, in hopes readers can figure out what it means:
Senator Jeff Sessions ordered me arrested December 16th and jailed due to my published disclosures about his ties to the Mafia and infiltrating the federal courts with mafia people. He also had Court Order issued to take down "Insider-magazine.com" and .org. so being in jail and unable to respond I am without a publishing platform, so much for the First Amendment compliments the Dirty Bastards you work for.
Sessions who aspires to be US Attorney General is Tied to the Russian Mafia aimed at overthrowing democracy with bullshit from so-called journalists.
Luckily the FBI's Violent Crime Gang Task Force flew in to protect me for 5 days at Panama City, FL. . . .
So, Jeff Sessions ordered Caylor's arrest and take-down of Caylor's Web site? Sessions is tied to the Russian Mafia and has infiltrated our courts with members of the Mob? (Maybe that's why Sessions and Trump have such a cozy relationship?) The FBI considers Caylor such a valuable asset that it flew task force members into Panama City, Florida, to protect him for five days?
Wow, that's heady stuff. I'm slow to discount anything about Alabama-related corruption. Our political and legal systems are so dysfunctional that almost any explanation for it seems possible. But even by my liberal standards, Caylor's assertions seem "out there."
I've been receiving reports since last spring about Caylor being arrested in various jurisdictions, including Bay County, Florida. In fact, I've had a few individuals suggest it might be good if I covered the story and helped bring it to wider public attention.
I haven't done that for a couple of reasons: (1) I wasn't certain that Caylor was wrongfully arrested; at this point, while I have concerns about the expungement law, it appears Caylor's arrest was legitimate.
As for the second reason I haven't moved on the Caylor story, we will address that in an upcoming post.
(To be continued)
