For all the messy divorces hashed out in New Hampshire courts, the legal community has never seen one like Ghislain Breton's. Unhappy with the outcome, Breton, of Bow, filed liens against two women who worked on the divorce and his attorney and threatened the same against judges, prosecutors and the attorney general.

Breton's complaint? They had used his copyrighted name without permission every time they wrote him about legal costs, criminal charges or child support payments. The strategy - dubbed "paper terrorism"- didn't hold up in court, and Breton is in jail on charges of obstructing justice, improper influence and witness tampering.

But prosecutors say the liens temporarily prevented one woman from selling her home and dissuaded another from getting a loan for her child's college tuition. Also, a local anti-judicial group has seized on Breton's case as a way to advance its own agenda.

"He lashed out at innocent people doing their job," said Robert Carey, who prosecuted the case for the attorney general's office. "And how he lashed out was bizarre: common-law copyrights on his name, signatures in blood red ink. . . . But while these things were bizarre, they were effective, they were harmful and they were unlawful."

Maneuverings like Breton's were previously unheard of in New Hampshire but increasingly common elsewhere, according to Mark Pitcavage, who writes a militia watchdog bulletin for the Anti-Defamation League. Anti-government activists, including the Montana Freemen, have routinely used these "bogus liens" to intimidate, harass or retaliate against legal and state officials, according to Pitcavage's research.

In Maryland, a group filed liens against nearly 200 judges after the police told members the group could not enforce laws. In Wisconsin, a similar group filed liens totaling millions of dollars against local officials when its members were prohibited from becoming an independent township.

The liens Breton and others use are easy and inexpensive to file because they can be placed without a judge's approval or the property owner's signature. Books, Internet sites and seminars lay out the process. Removing them, however, can cost up to $1,000 in legal fees because that process does need a judge's order.

On the Defamation League Web site, Pitcavage quoted an activist who encourages using liens: "Faced with corrupt lawyers and judges, no litigant can expect to win in court by simply playing defense,"wrote Alfred Adask of Texas. "To beat 'em, you must be able to scare 'em, you must be able to make them respect you, and that means you must be able to attack them personally."

Protection from 'adversarial attack'

Breton, 40, and facing 21 years in prison, could not be reached because he is being held at the Merrimack County Jail on charges that he used the liens to intimidate or retaliate against the court staff who handled his divorce. (Jurors convicted him in six minutes.)

Breton's friend and sometimes adviser Daniel McGonigle of Massachusetts said Breton's only purpose in filing liens was to respond to a "corrupt judicial system."

"This (process) protects him from any adversary, corrupt agency or adversarial attack," McGonigle said. "Gus did not do this to avoid payment (of child support and legal bills). Gus did this to protect himself after the court awarded his wife all his property and his four daughters."

According to Breton's parents, who live in Manchester, and his friends, Breton was never in trouble until his divorce, which became final in late 2003. During that case, Breton's legal expenses put him in debt, and he lost custody of the couple's children.

Soon, Breton fell behind on his child support payments and the $3,200 he owed the lawyer who had represented the children's interests at trial, according to court records. He moved in with his parents in Manchester.

Breton took the advice of McGonigle and Joe Olson, another friend, and bought Cracking the Code, a book that explains how to copyright one's name to avoid debts, among other legal obligations.

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