We need your help!!! Please sign and mail in to Bonnie!

There is an opportunity to help bring a case before the Supreme Court of the United States, arguing that ICAC sting operations are violating the Fourth Amendment right to privacy.  Mr. Achin’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia, Achin v. Commonwealth of Virginia, was denied on May 14, 2021. There is now an effort to take this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Achin was convicted of solicitation of a minor, when the “minor” was an imaginary person brought to life by 3 officers: one pictured in the photos, a second officer exchanging text messages, and a third officer being the voice actor on recorded phone calls.  An imaginary person is not a legal “person” who can intercept and record communications, and 3 officers do not make “a person.”   This violates the laws regarding electronic surveillance, and therein lies the basis for the court case.

The appeal was based on Fourth Amendment laws derived from the 1986 Electronic Communications and Privacy Act, which modernized the “wiretap” laws and protected electronic communications just like phone calls.  The issue is the illegality of sting operation(s) because detectives are creating and controlling imaginary people online to intercept communications for them.  Virginia interception laws are even more strict than the federal laws for there is no “color of law exemption” in Virginia, so they have no more authority to intercept communications than the average citizen.

It is my understanding that the acceptance or refusal of cases by the Supreme Court of the U.S. has become something of a political issue. Since they only accept a small percentage of all possible cases, the presentation of numerous petition signatures could persuade the Justices as to the interest in this case.  Please show your support for this issue by printing out the petition below on single sided white paper, getting as many signatures as possible, and mailing the signed petitions to Bonnie Burkhardt at the following address.  Signature sheets not completely filled in are still OK to send.  Please mail it no later than July 1, earlier is better.

Norman Achin has no money for an attorney. If there is an attorney who might be willing to take the case pro bono or several attorneys who might be willing to write amicus briefs, please contact me. I can provide relevant court documents, my amicus brief, and answer any questions they may have. The first and most pressing matter is to get the Supreme Court to agree to hear the case.  The Court may even appoint an attorney.

As for my background, I have 30+ years as an engineer building interception systems and analyzing signals for the Department of Defense for weapons analysis.  I have taken over 100 DoD classes on interception and privacy laws.  I filed an amicus brief for this case and another similar one, which formed the basis for my book titled: Manufacturing Criminals; Fourth Amendment Decay in the Electronic Age.  Norman Achin’s case is a major one discussed in the book, denoted Mr. NNNNN. 

Thank you for your support,

Bonnie Burkhardt

8402 Gambrill Ln

Springfield, VA 22153

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Petition

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To the United States Supreme Court

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The petitioners respectfully request that Court grant the Writ of Certiorari for

NORMAN MICHAEL ACHIN v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

Court of Appeals Record No. 1950-19-4

Circuit Court Case No. FE-2018-0001497

The violations of Fourth Amendment privacy laws being argued affect cases in my region.

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