Motion To Dismiss In Latest "Spanky Pete" Lawsuit...

"Wacky court case" stock photo and blog post by John Hoff


Level Three sex offender and "Rule 9" frivolous litigant Peter "Spanky Pete" Stephenson, who uses the alias "Peter Rickmyer," just can't be deterred from filing gibberish-filled quasi-lawsuit documents with the court system. The backstory on Pete is long, and many of our regular readers know it, but some might not.

So here is the "creepy lubed up thumb nail" version of "The Tale Of Peter" up to this point in time...


Peter R. Stephenson spanks minors for sexual gratification, exposed himself to a child in a hotel room, and is generally creepy. Creepy enough that he was hospitalized or incarcerated (take your pick) for being such a creep-a-zoidal creepster, but Peter got himself released and thrust back upon society. So where did Peter decide to live where he could accomplish this societal Peter thrusting? North Minneapolis, of course, dumping ground of deviants. (And we are INCREASINGLY PISSED about that!)

For many years, Stephenson contented himself by filing lawsuits pro se, in forma pauperis, against an assortment of decent folks. He sued some nice church ladies who didn't want him around the church children. He sued the Tupperware lady, alleging Tupperware he ordered didn't get properly delivered. People feared Stephenson and the hassle he could cause with his lawsuits, even though Stephenson's legal track record was abysmal and the lawsuits read like they were written by an insane person. But Peter could still tie you up in court, make you spend money.

Peter haunted the downtown government center building, learning as much legal stuff as his cracked brain would allow, kind of like that guy in Cape Fear only Peter wasn't as smart as De Niro's character, nor as good-looking. When Peter haunted the high-profile Larry Maxwell trial(for reasons that still aren't entirely clear, though some neighbors speculated Peter was reporting back to slumlord Keith Reitman on each day's events) everything sort of hit the fan.

And, arguably, it hit the fan because it got BLOGGED ABOUT. Suddenly the events everybody in the neighborhood knew about--the way Peter would skulk around various public events where minors were commonly in attendance, his mentally cracked anal bead string of lawsuits against almost random individuals--these things were no longer confined to unrecorded, inaccessible conversations in North Minneapolis social circles.

Peter, and the chilling concerns he presented to citizens in the neighborhood, were described in detail to the whole wired world.

All the shit had been building up for years, but now the shit was being poured into a giant fan, like the industrial sized fans used to (for example) move air around in the hallway of an army barracks.

The negative attention Pete got on the blogosphere seemed to push Pete to do even crazier things, kind of like Lindsey Lohan, only the opposite of hot.

Pete got removed from a courtroom during a trial over who was the "true leadership" of the Jordan Area Community Council. He was removed by Will McDonald who was, at that time, Peter's probation officer. ("Zookeeper" is a more accurate description, only feces-hurling apes are more lovable)

Some time later, Pete tried to file a gigantic "midnight manifesto" slash lawsuit against this blogger and an assortment of other folks for, (in general and to the degree the gibberish in the lawsuit can be understood by sane people) being big meanies and saying critical things about a Level Three Sex Offender who likes to thrust himself into neighborhood politics where he is not wanted, not welcome, and makes a shocking spectacle of himself kind of like somebody who masturbates on a public bus.

There was an attempt to serve the lawsuit on this blogger in City Council Chambers which was not successful, but certainly became notorious. This blogger was never served. The lawsuit went forward. It went forward in the sense that a motion was made by one of the defendants to declare Spanky Pete a frivolous litigant and that motion was successful. From that day forward, Spanky Pete couldn't file a lawsuit without a licensed lawyer signing off on it, and the Chief Judge approving it.

Around this time, City Pages did a front page story on Peter Rickmyer.

After the Judge issued his "frivolous litigant under Rule 9" order, spunky Spanky Pete tried to file something anyway, a purported "injunction" document to keep this blogger from publishing stuff about Rickmyer. Once again, given the insane and rambling nature of the writings Pete files with the court system, it is difficult to say what any particular document is "about." But, in general, Peter was complaining about stuff being published about him, and in particular one photograph he was bitching about.

(Pardon the rough language of this blog post, gentle readers, I am constantly around individuals who cuss a lot here in Afghanistan)

When Peter filed that document with the court, this was a violation of the order of the judge which told Peter NOT to file his crazy crap with the local judicial system. I'm paraphrasing. I don't think the order contained the word "crazy" or "crap." But that was the gist of it. Of course, being a Level Three sex offender, Peter is supposed to be closely monitored. For doing what he did and violating the order of the judge, Peter went back to prison for a short while, at Lino Lakes. And we were all SO HAPPY to have him gone. Neighbors could walk the sidewalk in front of his house and not worry that the local pervert would come flying out like a rabid bat in heat.

Peter wasn't out of prison long, however, before he had another lawsuit going. And, incredibly, he got a lawyer to sign off on it. That lawyer was none other than Jill Clark.

Once again, this blogger is named in the lawsuit but has not been served. As a soldier stationed overseas, I am protected from being roped into a civil lawsuit, even if such a lawsuit had a lick of merit and wasn't filed by a freak who should be a freak on a leash, but isn't.

Yes, indeed, Pete's attempts to serve me have been epic and legendary. He once thrust papers into the hands of my lawyer, but my lawyer was representing me on a DIFFERENT matter and NOT on the Spanky Pete fiasco, so Pete didn't manage to serve me even though he came within, like, two feet of me with PAPERS.

Sheeeesh! Such a close call! Kind of like when that 50 cal popped off. Well...never mind. That's a different story for a different day.

Living in Afghanistan, I am safe and sound, utterly beyond Pete's ability to rope me into a lawsuit FOR NOW.

But who knows, I might be in the States on leave some time in the near future.

And I might drop tantilizing little clues about my location, to give Pete a fair chance to have somebody thrust the lawsuit paperwork into my hand. I have plenty of hand sanitizer in army green bottles, to use after I handle any document that has ALSO been handled by Peter.

But other defendants aren't so bulletproof when it comes to getting served, and they have to face Pete in court and expend their financial resources. The lawsuit names Joan Fabian, the Minnesota Commissioner of Corrections, and Probation Officer Will McDonald.

Why Pete wants to take on these powerful entities who will crush him like a cocky cockroach is a mystery to me, but we all know Pete is cracked in the noggin.

So--! Well--!

One of the defendants is Michael "Kip" Browne, the guy who pulled the Jordan Area Community Council back together after years of mismanagement. Recently, Browne's attorney made a motion to dismiss under "Rule 12.03 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, Minn. Stat. 554.02 and the doctrine of res judicata."

Wow. Sounds like a real lawyer wrote that. The motion also requests reasonable attorney fees and costs for the defendant, Browne.

To which I say: Good luck with that, Browne. You know only the person who has been ISSUED the EBT card is allowed to USE the EBT card.

I'm just sayin'.

The motion is apparently scheduled to be heard in...

November.

It is said the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.

To this famous and venerable quote I add: Don't stand near those wheels with your Peter exposed.