Opening arguments in the trial of six members of the Montana Freeman group began on March 17. Despite the disruptive behavior of several of the defendants on Monday morning, a jury panel of five women and seven men was selected and seated.

     The disruption, which led U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour to banish four of the defendants from the courtroom, was hardly unexpected. While awaiting trial, several of the defendants conducted impromptu law seminars in their holding cells, and Billings' courtrooms were flooded with defendants who argued the court had no jurisdiction over them.

     The six defendants, who have elected to defend themselves, filed a number of motions that were almost unreadable, many of which had no dicernable legal point. All six refused court appointed attorneys. One had even threatened a Federal Magistrate in court. Fearing that the defendants would make it impossible for the trial to proceed, Judge Coughenour appointed stand-by counsel for each of them.

     The six men are on trial for their alleged role in a 1996 armed standoff between the anti-government group and the FBI. Almost two dozen members of the group have been arrested since June 13, 1996, the end of the 81-day standoff at an isolated farm compound in remote Eastern Montana. Charges against the group include wire and bank fraud, as well as making threats to a federal judge and other public officials.

     The FBI alleges that over 800 people visited the compound, where they were taught how to issue worthless Freeman liens and warrants the group claims are legal tender. Visitors were also taught the Freeman legal code, which is a strange combination of the Uniform Commercial Code, the Bible, the Magna Carta, and the U.S. Constitution.

     The six defendants are not the most major figures of the standoff, though one of them, Edwin F. Clark, emerged as a leader towards the end of the conflict and helped bring it to a bloodless resolution. Clark is one of the original owners of the foreclosed farm that houses the Freemen, and is the only Montanan in the group on trial. He is charged with bank fraud for attempting to deposit a $100 million Freeman check at the Garfield County Bank in Jordan, then writing checks on the account to pay real estate loans.

     The other defendants are Steven C. Hance, his sons John R. Hance and James E. Hance, all from Charlotte, North Carolina; Elwin Ward of Salt Lake City; and Jon Barry Nelson of Kansas. All six men are charged with being accesories by aiding federal fugitives to avoid arrest during the standoff. The Hances are also charged with being fugitives in possession of firearms after being charged in North Carolina in connection with an assault on a police officer. Steven Hance was removed from a hearing last year after pointing at U.S. Federal Magistrate Richard Anderson and telling him, "You're going down, son."

     The disruptive behavior began on Monday when the defendants refused to change out of their coveralls or leave their cells. Marshalls were forced to change the mens' clothes and then drag them to the courtroom. Once there, Nelson ripped up his nameplate. As the Hances were dragged into the courtroom, Steven Hance shouted "You're all a bunch of criminal bastards." Judge Coughenour immediately decided that he had had enough, and ordered four of the six defendants to a holding cell where they would be able to watch the trial on closed-circuit television.

     As the judge ordered the two men from the room, he said "Let the record show..."

     James Hance interrupted the judge, screaming "Let the record show I'm placing you under arrest, you traitorous bastard." John Hance, who was wheeled into the courtroom in a wheelchair, was allowed to remain until he tore up his nameplate. Only Clark and Elwin Ward were allowed to remain in the courtroom