Brandon Pinney Victorious in Court in Free Speech Case vs NH State Police

After being found guilty last year in Keene District Court of “disorderly conduct” for telling state police to “fuck off”, NH-native Brandon Pinney appealed to a jury trial. I’m happy to announce that thanks to a hung jury, Brandon is victorious, as the state has decided to not retry the case. In an email, Brandon says:

Just letting you know that the deadline has passed for the state to retry me and the hung jury stands. While i am disappointed I was not fully exonerated i am glad and fortunate that in my case a jury of my peers was able to see that the situation did not unfold as the state presented it.

For the full initial district court trial video, you can check out this post. At the time, he heroically wore a “FUCK COPS” homemade t-shirt into court. Free speech includes the right to say unpleasant things to government officials. The district court judge, Edward Burke, was wrong to uphold the charge against him and it was good to see some jurors could see the situation clearly. This is a clear free speech issue, and in the long run the state would have lost in its own courts. Brandon stated further:

I also want you to know that I don’t regret wearing my shirt. I am more than a little troubled that my arresting officer initially served as the prosecutor. I believe that a county prosecutor would have declined to take up the case after reading the witness statements. Some of the statements made by the ranger, the fish and game officer and state trooper, as well as their testimony at trial, were impeached and this fact demonstrates the weakness of their case. It is unfortunate that things ever went as far as they did the day I was arrested and in the ensuing legal process.

To learn more about jury nullification, your right to judge a case based on your conscience, please visit NHJury.com. Congratulations to Brandon on his win, thanks to the jurors who voted not guilty, and sorry for the belated update on this important case!