Ocie's 'Land of the free...'

By Henry Lamb
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com

It was a fantastic day! Spanish moss swayed gently from giant oak trees, dancing to the steady drumbeat of waves lapping at the shore. A life-long dream -- a waterfront home on the bay -- was about to be realized. Ocie Mills had finally bought the 65-foot building lot. He had obtained a building permit from the county. He had the state people come out and flag the area near the shore that is protected by law. And today, Ocie and his son were actually starting construction on their dream home. That day was in 1986. The dream turned into a nightmare.

Nineteen loads of building sand were brought in to level an area for the foundation. Then the feds arrived. "Cease and desist," was the order. Ocie was caught in the act: "polluting the navigable waters of the United States."

Ocie said, "surely you jest, I have all my permits." The feds said, "We'll see you in court."

Ocie had little money to pay attorneys for such a frivolous encounter. Surely, when the judge looked at the building permit, and the state's approval, he would throw the case out lock, stock, and barrel. Ocie didn't hire an attorney.

The trial came to court in January 1989. The feds showed up with three attorneys, one from the Justice Department, the Corps of Engineers and the EPA. They moved to disallow all of Ocie's evidence, claiming that since federal law superceded local and state law, his building permit and state documents were irrelevant. The judge ruled in favor of the feds and both Ocie and his son wound up in a federal penitentiary for 21 months, and were sentenced to "restore the property to its original wetland elevation."

When he got out of jail, Ocie began excavating the property to its "original wetland elevation," at the direction of the feds. When he had been forced to lower the land eleven inches lower than it was when he bought it, Ocie protested. He was able to secure an "evidentiary hearing" to determine the "original wetland elevation" in 1993. A new federal judge was on the bench.

The judge determined that the property was "probably never a wetland for purposes of the Clean Water Act." The evidence revealed that the soil samples taken by the feds had been taken from a drainage ditch. In his written opinion, the judge said that Ocie's case:

... presents the disturbing implications of the expansive jurisdiction which has been assumed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers under the Clean Water Act in a reversal of terms that is worthy of Alice In Wonderland. The regulatory hydra, which emerged from the Clean Water Act, mandates in this case that a landowner who places clean fill dirt on a plot of subdivided dry land may be imprisoned for the statutory felony offense of discharging pollutants into the navigable waters of the United States.

Although the judge determined that the land was not a wetland, and that Ocie and his son were innocent, he could not set the conviction aside because the issue had not been presented in the original trial.

It gets even worse. Three years later, in March 1996, Quenton Wise, a juror in Ocie's original trial came forward and admitted publicly that the jury foreman had provided him with information about previous environmental disputes in which Ocie had been involved. In a sworn affidavit, Wise testified:

From the beginning of the trial, Mr. Smith (jury foreman) kept telling me about Ocie Mills' prior cases. He told me that he was familiar with Ocie Mills' prior problems and wrong doings because his son was employed with the State of Florida Water Management. During the course of trial, Mr. Smith told me that Ocie Mills had threatened environmental people on his property with a gun, and that Ocie Mills was wrong for his actions.

I felt almost threatened or intimidated by Mr. Smith during the trial. I feel that the jury were prejudiced against the Mills' by information which we received from Mr. Smith, which was not part of the evidence. ...

The story to which the jury foreman referred, was big -- ten years earlier.

In the mid-1970s, Florida environmental officers carried a green card that was supposed to entitle them to access on private property. One day in the 1970s, two card-carrying officials appeared on Ocie's land and demanded access. Ocie said no, not without a warrant. The officers insisted, and started to enter the property despite Ocie's protest and demand for a warrant. Ocie, who is not a small man, physically restrained the two officers, put them on the ground, and called the sheriff.

The officers filed a suit against Ocie. In court, the judged ruled that Ocie was right, ordered a judgement against the state in Ocie's behalf, and that the state could no longer demand access to private property without a warrant.

The jury foreman's son worked for the state and was familiar with Ocie's victory over the state in the 1970s. The foreman's version of this story persuaded the jury to convict Ocie and his son, according to sworn testimony.

The United States District Court in Pensacola has ordered a hearing for the juror to advise the court of what he was told by the foreman. The hearing is scheduled for Oct. 29, 1999.

Now the federal government is trying to appeal to the United States Supreme Court for an order to prohibit the trial court from conducting this hearing. The federal government is trying to prevent Ocie and his son from finally being vindicated for a conviction which a federal judge has already determined they are innocent. The federal government is trying to cover up the misdeeds of the Corps of Engineers in this case, and with our tax dollars, it has all the legal resources it needs at its disposal.

Ocie has spent everything he had trying to simply clear his name. He has forgotten the feeling he had on that fantastic day when he and his son set out to build their dream home. His wife is critically ill. His son is trying to rebuild his life -- as a convicted felon. All Ocie has left are his friends, and a hope that what happened to him can be stopped before it happens to all property owners.

Henry Lamb is the executive vice president of the Environmental Conservation Organization and chairman of Sovereignty International.

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