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Shawna Cox is seeking at least $666,666,666,666.66 in "damages from the works of the devil" in a complaint filed Wednesday against federal and state government employees who she claims "organized together to attempt to murder me" during the armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.
In an eight-page document titled "Affirmative Defences And Counter Criminal Complaint," Cox claims she and 15 others took over the refuge in a monthlong "Hostile Adverse Possession" to force a trespassing trial during which the occupiers would challenge federal ownership of land in Oregon.
" 'Hostile Adverse Possession' is a legal way to challenge 'clouded land titles' and un-cloud them," Cox claims in the document.
Cox is among 16 people who were indicted on charges of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States during the refuge occupation in January.
"At no time did I or anyone else interfere with any public employees working on the Malheur," Cox writes. "In fact we encouraged them to come to work as we wanted to discuss the ownership problem with them and get as much information we could from them. If anything, it was their choice to not come to work, out of guilt."
Cox goes on to claim that "the individuals who we allegedly interfered with were directly involved in subversive activities to secretly extend the boundaries of the Malheur, and take taxpayers (ranchers) lives, liberties and properties."
Cox's role in the occupation ended Jan. 26, when she was a passenger in a truck driven by Robert "LaVoy" Finicum. Federal agents have said Finicum was "evading arrest" when he drove into a snowbank. After he got out of the truck, the FBI has said, he twice reached in the direction of a 9 mm handgun. He was shot an unknown number of times.
Among the entities Cox accuses in "the ambush that attempted to execute myself and others and executed Lavoy Finicum" are members of the Oregon State Bar Association, including an array of politicians and prosecutors, saying they "organized together to take complete control of the Oregon State Government."
She also accuses state and federal bar associations of creating a "predatory judicial industry that preys on economically vulnerable individuals" and trying to "attack our constitutional form of government and subversively, secretly force socialism, communism and imperialism types of government onto the people of the United States of America."
Cox's court-appointed attorney, Tiffany Harris, declined to comment on the document, which Cox filed independent of legal counsel. A note attached by the court describes Cox's claims as being "in the nature of civil claims" and "not cognizable in this criminal proceeding." The note states Cox's claims "will not be addressed in this case."