First, they came for Keene. It was this summer when “administrative judge” Edwin Kelly wrote an “ORDER” banning all cameras and audio recording devices from the district court in Keene. After that ban, Derrick and Jason Talley were arrested for using video cameras in court lobbies.
Talley was arrested in “superior” court, where the same Keene-only ban was enacted. (In reaction to the large activists-with-cameras presence we have had here for a long time.) Thus far, the superior court ban has not been expanded to all superior courts in NH, but as of 10/24 it has been expanded to all of NH’s circuit courts, according to a new “ORDER” from Edwin Kelly. Click for a PDF.
In a big “fuck you” to the freedom of press, Kelly writes:
No cameras or audio equipment may be used in the lobby or other public, noncourtroom,
area of any courthouse;
You can’t even talk to this Kelly guy. His office is closed to the public and they try to keep it secret. Plus, he just refuses to comment. Why should he? You’ll keep paying his salary either way, and he knows it.
Any liberty-oriented legal wizards out there want to help change this horrible situation? Please move to NH and help us. The fact that they are taking desperate measures like this means we’re doing something right, but that doesn’t make it suck less. They are destroying freedoms here and most of us are helpless. We can get arrested, but don’t have the legal know-how to affect permanent change to this oppressive system.
(FYI: Now all district courts are called the verbose “Circuit Court – District Division”.)
