He then briefly studied business at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, before dropping out to start his own small construction company.
[5][6] At a 2009 gathering of the group, Cox drafted a declaration that the United States Government must be abolished if it further restricts gun rights.
[10][17] In March 2011, Cox was arrested on federal charges in Fairbanks, Alaska, by the United States Marshals Service.
[19] Cox's lawyers argued unsuccessfully that the charges should have been thrown out because the grand jury that served the indictment was flawed.
The dismissals followed a court ruling that kept prosecutors from using, as evidence, secret FBI recordings made without a search warrant.
[31] Cox was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute, and was originally scheduled for release October 26, 2033.
[32] On December 13, 2013, Cox recanted his claim of mental illness and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner published a thirteen-page letter in which he alleged the Federal government is part of a broad conspiracy that led to his conviction and sentencing.
He stated, regarding a forensic psychologist who evaluated him, "She was a short frumpy woman with frizzy hair, beady eyes."
At the sentencing hearing, Cox told the judge, "I put a lot of people in fear by the things that I said."
)[37] [38] [39] In March, 2018, Cox's public defender, Michael Filipovic, filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.
In May, the federal government's Solicitor General's office filed a brief arguing that the established facts of the case contradicted Filipovic's brief.