Sovereign citizen accused of decapitating landlord with Samurai sword in rent dispute

Jury selection is set to begin next week in the trial of an alleged sovereign citizen accused of decapitating his landlord with a sword.

Jerry David Thompson, 45, will represent himself when he stands trial on one count of murder in the brutal slaying of 64-year-old Victor King, who was found dead at his Connecticut home on July 26, 2020, after police were asked to check on his well being, reported the Hartford Courant.

King had gone to police the day before he was killed to report that Thompson, who had moved into a vacant room in the home less than a year earlier, had threatened him with a Samurai sword in a dispute over rent money.

Hartford police found King's body partially covered by a sheet, and they believe Thompson used the Samurai sword to cause "serious trauma" to his landlord's arms, chest, shoulder and neck.

Thompson refused to speak to detectives when he was brought in for questioning and eventually wrote on a piece of paper that paperwork in his glove compartment would explain everything they needed to know. Officers found items in the Jeep's glove box suggesting that he viewed himself as a sovereign citizen, and therefore not bound by the law.

Court documents indicate that Thompson had been represented by a public defender appointed to his case in November 2022, but he informed the Bloomfield-based attorney in January that he no longer wanted him working on the case, and the lawyer's motion to withdraw was granted the next day.

King had retired from Travelers Insurance in 2018 and devoted himself to playing bridge. He was considered a Grand Life Master, the game's highest rank, and had won a national championship in 2016.