UPDATE: Mon. May 14th 5:20PM

Kate was found guilty of “resisting” by a Manchester Superior Court jury today. Her previous “sentence” from district court was 90-days suspended for two-years. Her new “sentence” is 30-days suspended for 30-days.

It’s good that the threat hanging over her head is now lessened and that outreach was done and ideas shared but bad that Kate had to even allocate any of her time to such a situation.

On June 4th, 2011 eight ‘shire-based activists were arrested while at a pro-police accountable rally outside the Manchester, NH PD (603-668-8711). The incident became known as the Chalking 8. One of the eight arrested was Kate Ager.

Kate had been heading to Manchester to visit a friend. On the way, she learned that her friend had been arrested outside the Manchester Police Department so that’s where she headed. She parked and as she approached, saw a number friends holding signs as well as a number of Manchester PD employees nearby.

Eighty-seconds after stepping onto the sidewalk she was asked by Manchester police employee John Patti to “get off the chalk.” Ten seconds after that, when attempting to ask a question about the order, she was given her “last chance.” Ten seconds after that Patti told Kate that she was “under arrest” as he and colleagues swarmed Kate, handcuffed her, and put her in a cell.

A few hours friends posted a $540 ransom at Kate was free(r). Still, four threats were levied against her.

This past fall, Kate defended herself in Manchester District Court (with assigned standby council). Of the four threats levied, one was dismissed and another she was deemed to be “not guilty” of, but she was found “guilty” of resisting and of a violation-level disorderly.

Kate appealed both. This morning she has jury selection at 9am to revisit the resisting charge (her appeal for the disorderly will go through supreme court). Her trial is slated to begin immediately afterwards.

Manchester Superior Court
300 Chestnut Street
Manchester, NH 03101
(603) 669-7410

From Kate herself, on the related Facebook event:

The “State of NH” alleges that I resisted arrest on June 4, 2011 at the Manchester Police Station. I verbally expressed my displeasure at the time of the arrest, but did not physically resist. On Monday, I will be sharing what happened, as well as videos of the interaction, with a jury and they will have the chance to decide whose interpretation of what happened they believe.

I’ll be just one of many present to support Kate and to communicate to the real aggressors that their actions aren’t going unnoticed. Some of us (not Kate) will be doing jury outreach in the morning to inform those tasked with deciding Kate’s “guilt” or “innocence” of their ability to nullify bad laws. These charges, just a few from the volumes and volumes of arbitrary man-made dictates, are definitely bad.

Patti and his associates outside the Manchester PD last June 4th were out of control. They demonstrated their willingness to implement, follow, or stand by without intervening, as they violated Kate’s rights in their attempt to silence the dissent being voiced nearby about the actions of some Manchester PD employees. That’s the thin blue line. And that’s what you get when you grant another group of people extra rights.

Don’t.

Here’s an interview with Kate published just before her trial last fall:

For more on this situation:
June 5th, 2011 – Eight Arrested at Manchester, NH Pro-Police Accountability Rally

For more on jury nullification:
November 3rd, 2010 – Careful! Examples of Statism Abound During Ft. Lauderdale FIJA Outreach!
January 16, 2012 – Cop Block & Fully Informed Jury Association Billboards Going Up in Richmond! [post]
NHJury.com
Fully Informed Jury Association

For more from Kate:
June 29th, 2011 – Kate Ager to “judge” Ed Burke: Release Ademo & Beau
April 13th, 2012 – The War On Drugs Claims Another Life [post]
Ladies in Keene posts

Eli Rivera

Surprise, surprise – the New Hampshire Attorney Genital’s final report on the officer involved homicide of Julio Angel DeJesus concludes that

KPD members James Lamoureux and Eli Rivera were justified in their use of deadly force on the night of April 17th.

The incident began at Diversified Computers on West Street in Keene, where police responded to an attempted burglary involving DeJesus and two other individuals.  When police arrived, DeJesus took off in his vehicle, and Lamoureux took off in pursuit.  According to the report:

The pursuit continued through the city. During the pursuit Mr. DeJesus’s stolen Mercedes ran through stop signs and red lights, failed to turn on its headlights, exceeded speeds of 80 mph in 30 mph zones, and nearly collided with a number of on-coming vehicles.

The pursuit ended on Marlboro Street, when DeJesus exited the vehicle and began to flee on foot.  Lamoureux followed suit and chased the suspect around the residence at 345 Marlboro.  DeJesus then got back into his vehicle, turned on the engine, supposedly backed up the car so that it was pointed towards Lamoureux, and began to pull forward.  It was at this point that Lamoureux claims he believed that his life was in danger and he fired his gun, referred to in the AG’s report as his “duty weapon”, at the vehicle as it drove towards him.

As Officer Lamoureux fired, he moved to his right to get out of the path of the Mercedes. The Mercedes brushed his clothing as it continued onto the sidewalk, running down the street sign for Prescott Street. The Mercedes preceded towards Marlboro Street, east-bound, which intersects with Main Street.

That night there were a large number of pedestrians and cars in the downtown area. Officer Lamoureux believed that if the vehicle continued, the public was in danger of serious bodily injury or death based upon how Mr. DeJesus had operated the vehicle during the earlier pursuit.

What the report doesn’t explain is how the public was in any more danger at that point than when Lamoureux began the pursuit to begin with.  If Lamoureux and the KPD were so concerned about the public, perhaps they shouldn’t have engaged a fleeing suspect in a high speed chase in the first place.  If someone is desperate enough to run from the cops, do you really think he’s going to be worried about the fashion in which he is driving the vehicle?  I am quite certain that there were a large number of pedestrians and cars in the area when the entire disaster started, just as there were when it ended.  Where was Lamoureux’ concern for the public then?

Rivera, who joined the chase in the area of Main Street and Route 101, witnessed DeJesus swerve into the wrong side of the road and almost hit an oncoming vehicle.  One wonders if DeJesus had hit that oncoming vehicle and killed an innocent person, would the KPD’s engagement in the high speed chase still have been “justified”?

Out of nine shots fired between Lamoureux and Rivera, only one bullet from Lamoureux’ gun actually struck and killed DeJesus.  If a stray bullet would have hit and killed an innocent person, would that have been “justified”?

Of course, Lamoureux, Rivera, and the other KPD members involved all had the same story: DeJesus was using his car as a weapon and had tried to run them over.  However, DeJesus had already passed Lamoureux and Rivera and was fleeing the scene when they actually turned around and kept shooting at the vehicle as it continued down the road.

This doesn’t sound like self defense to me; what it sounds like is that Lamoureux and Rivera shot a fleeing man in the back and are now trying to justify their behavior with fake concern for the public, when really they were the ones putting the public in danger in the first place with their reckless, irresponsible, and careless actions.

Topics covered include the imprisoning of Derrick J and Beau and a man smoking cannabis legally in the state house. Here’s the archive:

You can add Radio Free Keene News to your podcast client via this RSS feed. Please note, this is a new feed, so update your podcast clients appropriately. As you may have noticed, we’re now hosting RFKN on Soundcloud.

Derrick Horton
825 Marlboro Rd.
Keene, NH 03431

You can put money into his commissary (so he can be a little more comfortable on the inside) via the info here.

Stay tuned to Free Keene as Derrick J is expected to blog from the inside. Plus, a feature-length documentary is in the works.

Your letters make a big difference – please send your thoughts to Derrick. Mail-to-Jail makes it easy.

To those of you reading this in law enforcement:  The complaint for False Reports to Law Enforcement only has to allege knowingly, but you could even prove purposefully.  The Judge stopped, turned around, and stated unequivocally “that’s a criminal offense.“  He made darn sure the bailiffs arrested Ademo.

Could he have felt threatened?  Sure.  Was it a criminal offense?  Absolutely not.

Would someone please arrest Judge Burke already?

I recently came home to discover Fred and his partner Josh, parked out front of my house, standing at my new neighbors’ door. They were just leaving and I inquired of Pete, who was there recording, as to what was going on. I was informed that they were threatening the neighbor over the car in their side yard. I informed Fred and Josh that I have no problem with their car being there and that I don’t appreciate them picking on my neighbors. Josh told me to stop eavesdropping, as though when strange men come threatening my neighbors that it’s not my business. I don’t know where Josh lives, but I want to live in a place where neighbors care that their neighbors are being threatened by aggressors.

Afterward, I spoke with the lady next door and assured her that I had not called code enforcement on them and nor would I. If I have an issue with a neighbor, I’ll do like a good neighbor should, and drop by to talk. She informed me that Fred claimed he’d gotten a complaint from another neighbor regarding their car in the yard, because the other neighbor had experienced code enforcers threatening them over the same issue. Typical cycle of abuse. It’s sad to see neighbors using the state agents to threaten one another. It’s also sad to see grown men telling other humans how they have to behave on their own property, when no harm has been done to others. The neighbors’ car in the side yard was hurting no one and it certainly didn’t bother me.

The code enforcement department should be shut down. All they are is a means for people to hide behind and act less neighborly and also a tool to attack neighbors that are disliked (or political dissidents the state agents wish to punish or intimidate).

The employees in the code enforcement department would likely say their job is to ensure homes are safe, but if that were true, why has Fred threatened me with violations, fines, and jail time because of “unregistered” vehicles being parked on the property? What neighbor would care or even know that a car was unregistered? Clearly Fred is on an obedience kick and/or revenue hunt.

If Fred actually were just going around trying to help people be safer, he wouldn’t need to threaten. He could be a code suggestor rather than enforcer, and make helpful suggestions on how to make construction better and safer.

Of course, Fred is not a construction worker. He’s a former cop who is playing detective again on people and their “code” violations. I’d imagine most people who see Fred don’t much want his services.

I recently heard from a law enforcement officer about an awesome judge in Carroll County who calls the jail on the weekends on her own accord simply because she wants to make sure defendants do not get held just because the court is closed.  She legally doesn’t have to do that.  I think she probably does it because she is a good person who uses her authority to protect individual liberty.  I’ve never met this judge, but she sounds awesome.

The owner of this blog, and my friend, Ian Freeman, is presently attempting to legally require Judge Burke’s recusal from his present trespassing case.  This morning I added a response from the Cheshire County Attorney’s office that I view as the most detailed response from the State regarding the incident with the judge illegally ordering Ademo Freeman’s arrest.

Judge Burke lied to have a resident of Keene, NH arrested, and then shifted the blame to law enforcement.  How is this acceptable conduct for anyone, let alone a powerful judicial officer?

I would appreciate any ideas on how Ian should proceed.

The timeline of the case can be found here.

-/-

I’ve also heard from a lawyer that Judge Burke was Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway’s “protégé.”  If anyone knows anything about that, please let me know.  You can contact me anonymously by just searching for a random throwaway email service.

The County Attorney was, of course, the decider that the Judge shouldn’t be charged with illegally ordering a citizens arrest.