PHOENIX — The family of an Arizona inmate accused of using fraudulent court documents to get released years before his sentence was up insists the paperwork is legitimate, but the court system says the judge never signed any documents in the case.
The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry says David Cramer was released in error because of “fraudulent court documentation” that initially appeared valid but “has since been determined to be falsified.”
His daughter, Haven McQueen, told ABC15 on Tuesday that the papers are “definitely real.”
“They're signed and sealed, not by the judge that's on his case, but they're signed and sealed by the presiding judge of Maricopa County at the time and by the executive clerk,” she said.
The court papers appear to be signed by Judge Joseph C. Welty, but a spokesperson for the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County told ABC15 that he never signed any papers in the case.
“None of these documents were issued by the Court,” said Vincent Funari, public information officer. “When these filings were brought to the Court’s attention in late August 2025, a minute entry was issued by the Court finding these documents were fraudulent, fictitious documents with no basis in law or fact. The documents were struck from the record and ordered sealed.”
“They're lying,” McQueen said. “They're definitely real.”
'It's not state law'
State law lays out the process for vacating a sentence. But McQueen said their efforts were based in “common law, Article III,” saying her father has “the right to a common law court.”
“It's not state law,” she said.
Her father called during the interview, and he also referenced Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
“I have a right to go to that common law, Article III court, that I have a right to be heard and have a chance to speak and not be railroaded and my family kept from the hearings,” he told ABC15 over the phone.
There is no separate “common law” court system. People who believe in the sovereign citizen movement, often known as SovCits, use similar language.
When asked if they respected Arizona statutes to govern their father’s case, his son, also named David Cramer, said, “I’ll plead the fifth on that one.”
His sister, McQueen, said it’s a difficult question to answer.
“That's hard, because my dad has made a lot of mistakes, and I think that he needed some time to make himself better,” she said. “But 36 years?”
Doorbell-camera video shows apprehension
David Cramer was reapprehended outside McQueen’s Glendale home Aug. 20, an arrest captured on her doorbell camera.
The video, which the family shared with ABC15, shows a flash-bang exploding as Cramer stands on the sidewalk, leaning into a car. An officer tackles him to the ground, and other armed officers immediately surround him.
Her father was babysitting her teenage brother and her four children when law enforcement arrived, McQueen said. The officers left after a few minutes, she and her brother said, leaving their teenage brother and McQueen’s four children in the home alone.
“I feel so unsafe at my own home that they can just come and tackle my dad and do that and not even make sure that anybody's OK,” she said.
Her brother, David Cramer, called police, thinking their father had been kidnapped.
“It was all just looking at the video and seeing that these unbadged and unidentifying officers were just taking him within a matter of seconds,” he said.
Investigation in documents ongoing
On the phone from prison, David Cramer told ABC15 that investigators haven’t talked to him about the court documents case. But he said corrections officers had given him a ticket.
“They've concluded their investigation and put ‘escape’ on a ticket for me,” he said. “I didn't sign it.”
He maintains that documents are real.
“It's a hostage situation now, because you've taken an innocent civilian from his private property," he said.
Attorney General Kris Mayes’ Office told ABC15 on Tuesday that the investigation into the case is ongoing.
