About 300 people gathered today outside the federal courthouse in Macon to draw attention to a petition for appeal filed on behalf of United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors founder Malachi York.
Most in attendance were York's followers and enthusiastically applauded the brief remarks of Nuwaubian leaders in attendance.
The 23-page "petition for certificate of appealability," which was submitted to the courts this afternoon, raises several objections to previous court rulings.
York was sentenced in April 2004 to a 135-year prison sentence for molesting children inside the Nuwaubian compound.
The document submitted today lists grounds for appeal such as ineffective assistance of counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, judicial misconduct, and lack of jurisdiction. In the document York argues as he has previously that the court does not have the jurisdiction to convene or conduct a trial due to what he claims to be his status as a Liberian diplomat and citizen.
A federal judge denied a previous motion by York to throw out his prison sentence because of prosecutorial misconduct, according to U.S. District Court records.
Dana Dixon, a representative of the United Nuwaubians World Wide, attended the event dressed in a blue robe.
"Everyone should be able to have due process," she said.
She accused the government of intimidating witnesses and of other forms of misconduct.
Several Nuwaubians entered the court house and filed the brief on behalf of York.
Bernard Foster, 42, the CEO of the Holy Tabernacle Church where the group once met, said York's case had been "railroaded" through.
Foster said the group gathered Wednesday to show their support for York.
"It's absolutely a shower of support," he said.
