Make no mistake, these three criminal charges against me were not ‘dropped’ by Gilford Police Chief Bean-Burpee and his prosecutor Sergeant Eric Bredbury, they were dismissed by a New Hampshire Circuit Court Judge after a full hearing. In spite of having months to review the law and the facts, the Prosecutor refused to drop the charges or even propose a plea, but rather continued to seek a conviction to justify the State’s violation of my First Amendment right of free speech, and my unlawful arrest.
I was fortunate enough to be experienced in the legal system, and also had the determined, talented, and effective counsel of Mark Sisti and Jared Bedrick of Sisti Law Offices. But what about those who have none of these advantages? One of the most troubling aspects of this experience is having to face the fact that, out of the millions of people arrested every year in the United States, many are unlawfully arrested, maliciously prosecuted, wrongfully convicted, or pressured to plead guilty just to get it over with. Having a jury of one’s peers is supposed to be a check on this system, but NH law precludes a jury trial for a defendant if he is not facing possible incarceration.
Last weekend, he struck again. This time against a peaceful homeless-awareness chalking event on Central Square. Members of the Unitarian Universalist church had come out and traced outlines of their bodies to bring awareness to the 42 deaths of homeless people in New Hampshire in 2014. According to a report by the Keene Sentinel’s Martha Shanahan and Alyssa Dandrea, shortly after the event an unidentified man came out of a local business and attacked the chalkings with a brush and water. Despite being confronted by witnesses who asked him to stop, he continued his destruction.
Homeless Awareness Chalking: Pre-Attack Photo by Susan MacNeil
I reached out to witnesses in the case and showed them a picture and video of local chalk hater Matthew Schmidt in action and they confirmed that yes, it was him. I wasn’t surprised, of course, but I wanted to wait until I’d confirmed it with the witnesses rather than post an article speculating it was him. So, consider it confirmed.
Does Schmidt hate homeless people? Does he hate artwork? Does he hate children? He sure seems to have plenty of hate, for whatever reason. I hope someday he finds peace.
How are activists helping the community and how can you get involved? Watch the first-ever Keenevention Charity Panel and find out. Presented by the foundress of Shire Sharing, Amanda Bouldin, panelists included Theresa Eudaimonia of Occupy NH, Stephanie Murphy of Fr33 Aid, and Dale Everett of Flaming Freedom. Here’s the full video:
Perhaps for the first time ever, 2014’s primary election featured a third party candidate running as a democrat: the New Hampshire Liberty Party‘s Ian Freeman. Despite the entire campaign budget being about three dollars for postage and doing virtually no campaigning besides media appearances and a debate-turned-speech, Freeman received more than 4% of the vote!
It would be comparing apples-to-oranges, but it’s interesting to note that 4% is more than 50% higher than the 2.6% score by the Libertarian Party’s candidate for governor in the 2012 general election. The libertarians spent a lot of time and money promoting their candidate, including thousands of dollars on his ballot qualification alone. Freeman, on the other hand since he is registered as a democrat, became ballot qualified by simply paying $100 to the Secretary of State. Part of the campaign was to bring attention to the unfair ballot access rules for third parties in New Hampshire.
