Capuzzo still sits in a MA jail and writes us the following letters. You can send him mail online via mail-to-jail. Here are past Capuzzo posts.
Letter #7 from late February:
The eight month mark is closing in. In some ways, the time has flown by. At the same time, time has seemed to stand at a still. In either case, NH still seems a long ways away. I know the cases here in MA will be done soon, but after eight months of being dicked around by the court system, it just feels endless.
I often wonder if they realize that they are toying with a man’s life. I don’t think they understand just how this kind of shit affects a person mentally, especially after long periods of time. It’s not easy, for me at least, to integrate back into a functioning society after a time. I’ve even been at the point where I didn’t want to go home because it has become natural feeling to be inside the walls.
I won’t let that happen this time, though. I refuse to let them win this time. This is not my nature anymore. I bring this up because I’ve noticed that lately, every time I’m on the edge of giving up, someone pounds it into my head that I can’t give up. Whether it’s a letter from a friend, my mom, or the one person I’ve met here that I call a friend, they always seem to catch me at the right time and not even know it. (more…)
As was reported here last week, Jim Johnson’s jury selection was held as scheduled yesterday morning, but I was under the impression the case would go right to trial, and I apologize for that mistake. Turns out the trial has been scheduled for 3/17 at 9am. The courtroom only holds 63 people including court bureaucrats, so please arrive in good time to get in the room.
Even though the jury selection process is a public event, all activists were prevented from entering the court yesterday morning, including Jim’s wife, Lauren. The excuse for this was the fire code, in that there were already too many people in the room to allow anyone besides potential jurors in there. The bailiff refused to allow any media into the room, including preventing Jim from bringing in a handheld audio recorder. Being as that we had been prepared to do our own recording and had been prevented by court security, I motioned the robed man to waive the $25 fee for the official audio record, which was actually approved. I picked up the audio today and dubbed it from the proprietary court record format to .mp3. Download Jim’s jury selection audio here.
Here’s the trial event for Jim on Facebook.
You asked, we answered. The popular “Don’t Take the Plea Deal” flyer has been tweaked with your suggestions and is now available in both a national and NH version! Download it, send it off to your favorite printer, and start up your own local arraignment outreach!
This Monday morning, 3/7, Jim Johnson, one of the “Trespassive Twelve” arrested at the Cheshire jail last year will be facing a jury trial, with jury selection beginning at 9am.
This may be the first jury trial of a “free stater” thus far in New Hampshire, and more are expected this year. It also appears to be the first trial that Cheshire county has held in months, due to the unfortunate plea bargain process that encourages people, through intimidation, to take a guilty plea for a reduced sentence. The state agents never have to prove their case, which is frequently full of holes, and people are forced to pay hundreds of dollars in fines. That’s no easy task anytime, let alone in a down economy.
Activists will be out early at the court to perform jury nullification outreach, informing potential jurors that they have the right to vote their conscience, not just whether the government’s statutes were violated.
Capuzzo still sits in a MA jail and writes us the following letters. You can send him mail online via mail-to-jail. Here are past Capuzzo posts.
As was 
You asked, we answered. The popular “Don’t Take the Plea Deal” flyer has been tweaked with your suggestions and is now available in both a national and NH version! Download it, send it off to your favorite printer, and start up your own local arraignment outreach! 
