Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

The award will be given to the winning candidate present at the 2012 Porcupine Freedom Festival. So nominees ought to be individuals that are certain to be there. Here is the text from the official Award page:

Send in your nominations for a female liberty activist who deserves the Zoe Taylor Award for exceptional courage, principle and virtue. Nominees must be planning to attend PorcFest in June. Registration is now open. To nominate a female activist please include her name, city, and around 300 words why she deserves the award in an email to award@Silvercirclemovie.com. But time is short, so don’t delay.

The Zoe Award will be presented before the screening of Silver Circle on Thursday, June 21st at 8pm in the Theater (the old Bingo Hall). We’ll be recognizing all the nominees before the award is presented. We are thrilled to congratulate all of the talented and passionate women in the movement. This is a great time to do so, and we hope you all get your nominations in ASAP so we have plenty of time to choose our activist wisely.

For some videos on the movie here is the official trailer and a Free Keene TV news story on the movie:

Official Trailer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Behind the scenes FKTV video package

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

After serving a 75-105 day sentence in jail for his victimless crime spree, DerrickJ will be in self-imposed exile from the Shire and touring the continent in search of exciting activism.

Are you already getting active for the cause of liberty? Perhaps you’re part of a liberty community. I want to travel to you and report on the cool ideas and projects that you’re working on. I’ll be using agorist cabs whenever possible, but I’ll need some money for Greyhound busses, too.

While on the road, I’ll be producing one video per day covering the status of my trip. I’ll also be producing an episode of Fr33 Agents Radio News, your 5-minute update on the peaceful resistance happening around the globe, 5 days a week. Finally, I will also produce a once-a-week higher quality update highlighting the most exciting activism in my current local area. All of these videos and podcasts will include space for advertisements for your liberty organization.

Specific details about my route and agenda will be listed at LiveFreeOrDance.comand FreeKeene.comas they develop. The trip will be finalized in late July, when I am released from jail. Thank you for supporting liberty activism with your investment today.

Yesterday, a much more pleasant aroma than usual lingered through the smoking parlor of the New Hampshire state house. While legislators coughed on tobacco fumes, Irvin Rosenfeld puffed his medicine under the lights of WMUR news cameras. As one of the few surviving participants in a federal medicinal cannabis study, Irvin is given 9 ounces of cannabis in pre-rolled joints per month. The cannabis is grown at the University of Mississippi under the control of the federal government. Along with the cannabis, Irvin also possesses immunity from any US drug laws which would otherwise criminalize him.

Since childhood, Irvin has been struck with Multiple Congenital Cartilaginous Exostoses, a bone disorder that causes tumors to form in his joints. Without using any other medicines, Irvin has not had tumor growth since he began using cannabis, which he has been doing regularly for 30 years.

The purpose of Irvin’s visit to the state was to clear up misconceptions about medicinal cannabis and to meet with legislators who are still on the fence. At the end of the attached video, you can see interactions with Rep. Al Baldasaro and Sen. Gary Lambert, both former opponents of medicinal cannabis legislation. Biker Bill has coverage of the press conference prior to the discussion in the smoking lounge, and WMUR did a piece on the visit that aired last night as well.

Click here to view the embedded video.