It has been 7 years. No arrests, no nonsense. Just normal everyday living. I reached out to a consulting firm to help me with some business I am conducting, and part of their introduction letter informed me that they can’t do business with anyone who has a criminal record that hasn’t been annulled. So I looked into what it takes to do that. It took me about a week to figure it all out from reading the law and the paperwork, filling it out, calling the court clerks, and making sure everything is in order. It boils down to this:
You have to wait a certain amount of time after your final sentence, depending on the severity of the crimes. Then you can file for annulment, meaning they get “erased” from your record. (They still appear when searched, but a note is made that these have effectively been nullified since I have been rehabilitated for several years.)
I can file to annul multiple charges at once, so I filed to wipe out 14 of the charges that I had in District Court, and 2 that I had in Superior Court. It costs $125 per court, so $250 total. Later, there may be a separate fee from the Department of Corrections or other agency if they need to do some work to help get this settled. They tell me the whole process takes about 3-4 months.
At the end of it, though, I should have some kind of certification that I am no longer considered a criminal in the eyes of the State. That is good because it will allow me to do business with more people and afford me more freedom generally. If all it takes is filing some paperwork, paying a fee, and waiting, I say it is worth it. I will keep you updated on how it goes!
I got a sad letter from my attorney this week. He informed me that the Supreme Court of NH upheld the lower court’s decision to deny my application for a license to carry a handgun discreetly. You can read the decision here:
Today is my birthday, and where else would I want to be at 8:30am except in Judge Burke’s courtroom, awaiting another parking ticket arraignment? Last time I tried the “dead fish” strategy: I didn’t speak during arraignment, I barely spoke during trial, and I was predictably railroaded by the prosecution. Judge Burke found me guilty of two parking violations and fined me $10.
The trial and everything leading up to it costs the court (and therefore the taxpayers) far more than the $10 collected in “revenue”. Not only is it costly for the government to prosecute this victimless crime, it’s also time consuming: the prosecutor was kept busy filing paperwork, gathering witnesses, and preparing his arguments. The entire parking enforcement (which only consists of 2 people) was incapacitated for nearly 4 hours while sequestered for trial. How much money can the city government collect in 8 parking enforcement man-hours? Well, that opportunity was lost because I chose to take these tickets to trial.
If you think this is stupid, you might be surprised that I agree with you. What a waste of time and money! But remember — I didn’t set the system up this way — the people calling themselves “the government” did. And they can stop this charade at any time by simply dismissing the parking tickets. What would they have to lose? They’d certainly have a lot to gain.
Anyway, this time, I chose a new strategy: Go to arraignment with a piece of paper already written out, explaining that I want to plead GUILTY, except the paper is *UNSIGNED*. Once Judge Burke accepts this piece of paper, it becomes part of the record. It is now on the record that I want to plead guilty.
You’d think that would be enough, but Judge Burke did something interesting. He entered a plea of NOT GUILTY on my behalf. Why would he do that? The answer can be found in the following short video from court this morning:
In short, my point was: The judge has demonstrated bias against me, the defendant. Judge Burke is presuming (without evidence) that I am subject to the laws of the State of New Hampshire, but that is one of the elements that must be proven by the prosecution! How can I be forced to be at arraignment if the Judge is not presuming jurisdiction?
What do you think about this strategy? My next step is to file a motion to reverse the plea and motion to have Judge Burke recuse himself because of the bias he demonstrated. He is protecting the prosecutor and doing his job for him by assuming one of the essential elements of the crime: jurisdiction. Without jurisdiction, the case must be dismissed, but he’s not going to let that happen, is he?
Heroic activist, blogger, entrepreneur, and Free State Project participant James Cleaveland was sentenced in Judge Burke’s courtroom in Keene, New Hampshire for the charges of “disorderly conduct” and “resisting arrest”. His charges stem from a June 30th incident in which James was video recording police. According to officer accounts, James was ordered to move back from an “active scene,” and he complied. After complying with the first officer’s request, a different officer demanded he move back further. He refused and was arrested. (more…)
Local government bureaucrats in Keene are infringing on my right to bear arms.
In July I applied for a concealed carry license. One man, Ken Meola, denied it. I appealed, and this week the news came back: Judge Burke denied my appeal.
Judge Burke’s decision means that while it is perfectly legal for me to carry a firearm openly, it is a crime for me to conceal that firearm, for example by putting on a winter jacket.
The next step is to move on to the State Supreme Court. I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to do that, but I’ll give another update when I speak with my attorney.
I’m disappointed about this decision, but I’m not surprised. The State is a many-tentacled beast, and the different facets of it protect each other. First the legislators did their part by camouflaging a restriction as a right: they call NH “shall issue” but ultimately leave the power of permission to one man working for the police. Then the police did their part to deny my rights, essentially arguing that they are restricting my freedoms because I don’t respect them. Finally, appeals are made to lawyers who also work for the State.
