Superior Court Judge John P. Arnold to Retire

Ian Freeman recently learned, thanks to his incarceration, that Cheshire County Superior Court Judge John P. Arnold will be retiring. Our man on the inside was not able to learn the dates of John’s retirement and my followup calls to the Superior Court in Keene didn’t yield any answers, but Barbara Hogan, the clerk of the court, did confirm that John is retiring.

On Friday’s Free Talk Live, Ian Freeman called in and spoke to Mark Edge and myself about the news and reminded us about John’s time on the bench:

Ian called the retirement “convenient” since John would have faced a hearing by the Redress of Grievance panel for his banning of all recording devices, which is in violation of the New Hampshire open records statutes. John P. Arnold banned people from wearing shirts with messages on them, demanded that court watchers withhold display of emotion in the courtroom and forced people in the courtroom to stand for him, stifling their convictions (religious and otherwise). In a previous episode of Talley.TV I reported on Judge Arnold Enforces Decorum “Strongly,” Threatens Talley.TV and Causes Disruption of Court Proceedings.

According to the State of New Hampshire’s website:

There are now 18 fulltime judges [at 11 locations] serving on the Superior Court throughout the state. Under the State constitution, the Governor, with approval of a majority of the Executive Council appoints judges who hold office until they attain the age of 70.

Dave Ridley continues to illustrate the episode of Free Talk Live that took place the evening of Ian’s caging by John Arnold in his latest report:

Despite being locked away at the Cheshire County House of Corrections, it’s good to see that Ian was still able to scoop the mainstream media. There’s no doubt the “State of New Hampshire” will fill this position and we’ll have yet another Superior Court Judge in Keene, NH. The governor will nominate a new judge (with the agreement of an executive council) so there won’t be a delay in enforcing bad laws and enriching the state with new fines.

Note that this governor is not friendly to the Free State Project and may use this as an opportunity to send a message to the people who move to “New Hampshire’s Liberty Activism Destination.” Harsher enforcement of bad laws will just serve as more opportunities to tell people about the peaceful civil disobedience happening in Keene as more people move here and say no to aggressive government. Since Ian’s caging, several people have moved and many more have publicly announced that they will be moving as a result. This is exactly what Ian had hoped for and as he put it, “it was worth it!!”

John has punished a lot of people during his time on the bench but I’m only aware of three liberty activists that faced him in court: Russell Kanning, Jim Johnson and of course Ian Freeman. Another high profile incident during John P. Arnold’s tenure as Judge was the suicide by self-immolation on the sidewalk outside where Arnold and his staff go to work in the Keene community. Like this, the news was released first by FreeKeene.com. Cases such as these receive more publicity because they take place in a city that Ian Freeman calls the “liberty media capitol of the world.” As more people have become aware of John’s harmful use of judicial powers he has become open to more scrutiny. His response was to ban cameras and other electronic devices that concerned members of the community use to hold public servants accountable.

There’s no way to know why he is retiring but if John P. Arnold’s August 8th Order to Media is any indication, he doesn’t care for transparency and the accountability that comes with it. His three pages of restrictions took place less than one month before the US District Court released a strongly worded opinion in support of recording public servants, like John. A key quote from the recent decision is in sharp contrast to the media crackdowns taking place in Keene area courts:

Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting “the free discussion of governmental affairs.”

Will the next Superior Court Judge be more camera-friendly, or will he and other public servants decide to resign when faced with accountability and a community in search of true justice?