Mansion Squatter’s Defense: I’m A Moor, So I Own America

When 29-year-old Lamont Butler was called to defend himself for squatting in a vacant $6 million mansion, he simply explained that as a Moor, he actually owns the mansion anyway. And America, while we’re at it.

Really, though. It’s actually quite a clever defense, and one we’ve never heard before. The Washington Post calls it “one of the most bizarre burglary cases in the region in years,” and we’re hard pressed to disagree.

Butler, who self-identifies as a “Moorish American National,” says that his heritage overrides any lease or law in his way, since the United States remains part of the Moroccan empire, and he is the descendant of royal ancestors who were here long before we were.

With this defense, Butler maintains that he cannot be convicted of any crime. The jury disagreed and actually convicted him of five, which included burglary and identity fraud. The judge especially seemed to take issue with Butler and his strange “sovereign citizen” movement.

“Under your set of rules, every house is fair game, you own the entire United States, you own the oceans, you own anything you want. And that’s not how a free, orderly society works,” Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Terrence McGann said.

Still, Butler is not without his supporters, and if he was anything in court, it was eloquent. On his way out after being charged, he looked over his shoulder at his sympathizers and said “Let everybody know. Barack Obama, Eric Holder. Everybody.”

People close to Butler say that he’s not a danger or a threat to anyone, even though he does have some pretty wild notions. Still, the judge ordered Butler (as well as his co-conspirator and girlfriend, Sakita Holly) to undergo psychiatric evaluations.

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