This is the only known footage of any of Sam’s arrest (his removal from the city building and loading into a cop car), just now being released due to technical difficulties:
Thankfully this movement contains many activists with video cameras. This means we can be in multiple places and recording them all if necessary. Some of us are now coordinating and stationing camera-toting activists at various entrances to government buildings so as to be best prepared for events like this. What innovations can you bring to this movement? How will your talents help us achieve a voluntary society? Thanks to Free Keene blogger AnarchoJesse for capturing this raw footage.
Today he filed his intent to appeal judge Burke’s gulity verdict, and remains a semi-free man for another month as a result. He has until June 2nd to file his full appeal, or else they’ll put him in a cage at that time. This should mean he gets a jury trial, which should take place at superior court, the same place where activists do Fully Informed Jury outreach at every jury selection!
Sam:
Today Ivy followed up on her writ of habeas corpus with the NH supreme court. They attempted to claim they have no obligation to move quickly on hearing it, so she filed some sort of motion to expedite and believes she’ll have an answer on that motion within 24 hours. However, judging by the initial reaction of the court bureaucrats, it’s not looking good.
The fourth in three weeks. The second in two days. Some activists claim that Keene isn’t the epicenter of liberty activism in NH, and I know there are other activists across the state doing great work, but I challenge them to show another area that has generated this much front page coverage in mainstream newsprint. Just off the top of my head, I can think of at least eight front page articles about liberty activists that have been published in the Sentinel in less than two years’ time.
Orders outside the court
Dave Ridley, a Manchester videographer with ties to the Free State Project, was at Keene District Court Friday. Ridley was arrested in the court in March because he refused to turn off his camera in the lobby.
*
Battle over video forces a re-think
By PHILLIP BANTZ
Sentinel Staff
Published: Sunday, May 03, 2009
A legal fog pervades the corridors and lobbies of New Hampshire’s courts.
The rules for recording public hearings in courtrooms are relatively clear: The Supreme Court says it’s allowed unless “there is a substantial likelihood of harm to any person or other harmful consequence.”
But those foggy gray areas beyond the courtrooms remain untouched by state law.
Snapping a photo or recording video in these places is permitted in some district courts and prohibited in others, (more…)
Nearly 50 Freestaters picketed outside the Keene District Court before the trial of two Freestaters, scheduled for May 1st. Signs objecting to the drug laws drew many honks and waves from passersby. Officer Stelatto of the crime lab describe the scene as, “a madhouse out there.”
The first trial was for Mike Barskey, who organized a small event, the Keene Freedom Fest in Railroad Square last year. Barskey was dragged into court because he didn’t have a permit for the event. He describes his interaction with Keene Police Prosecutor Eli Rivera:
“As I walked into the courtroom, Rivera recognized me and told me that they dropped the charges against me. I asked why (more…)
This article is great coverage from the Keene Sentinel’s Phil Bantz:
Free Stater convicted for pot
Trial brings laughter this time, not chaos
By PHILLIP BANTZ
Sentinel Staff
Published: Friday, May 01, 2009
An 18-year-old Keene activist was convicted Friday of possessing a small amount of marijuana during a protest earlier this year.
James Andrew Carroll represented himself during his trial in Keene District Court on a Class B misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession tied to his January arrest in Railroad Square in downtown Keene.
Between 30 and 40 people with ties to the Free State Project showed up to support Carroll during the trial. Many of them protested the state’s marijuana laws, holding up homemade signs outside the courthouse, before the trial was under way. (more…)
