On December 21st, 2011 Bob Tebo, a bailiff at Cheshire Co. superior court in Keene, NH aggressively arrested two individuals who chose to remain seated when a man wearing a black robe entered the room. One of the two arrested was dragged across the courtroom floor by his handcuffs.
As cameras are “banned” from supposedly “pubic hearings” per a signed order from Edwin Kelly, the sole footage of this latest example of double-standards is possessed by the bailiffs and those employed at the Cheshire Co. Sheriff’s Department (which has their office in the court building).
Kelly has stonewalled inquiries that seek to uncover his motivations for implementing the draconian camera ban. And despite requests, the footage from Tebo’s latest incident has yet to be provided and complaints made against him remain “under investigation.” It’s probably not a stretch to guess that that’ll go no where. And why would it? When there’s no competition there’s no reason to even attempt good “customer service.”
Ademo Freeman is sitting in a cage at Valley Street Jail in Manchester, NH.
His “crime”? Highlighting the double-standards claimed by some who wear “Manchester Police Department” badges on their costumes*. After a six-month ordeal, Ademo was found guilty of two “class a misdemeanors” for resisting (going limp) and one “class b misdemeanor” (for using children’s chalk on a public building).
Yesterday while attending Occupy the Primary being held at Veterans Park in Manchester, I met MPD captain Robert Cunha. He had come to the park to discuss altering aspects of the occupation with participants in the protest. I had noticed when mailed my verdict following the trial held stemming from my Chalking 8 arrest that Capt. Cunha was CC’d a copy of the ruling. This indicates that he is likely the supervising officer in dealing with the cases that have stemmed from the chalking 8 incident. Following the arrests, it was the lower ranked sergeant Todd Boucher who spoke with press and was cited as the officer in charge during the incident. Sergeant John Patti was the officer who made or ordered six of the arrests. Joseph Mucci, also a sergeant, made 2 arrests and issued one citation that was later upgraded to a criminal charge.
Not surprisingly, Robert Cunha was not interested in discussing aspects of the case. That the potential still exists for legal action to be taken against Manchester PD for false arrest is likely what drives the silence. See my interaction with Cpt. Cunha embedded below:
On Monday, January 9, Ademo Freeman and Wesley Gilwreath will be sentenced following their convictions on chalking-related criminal mischief charges which were ruled upon December 27. Activists have planned to chalk in solidarity outside of the court prior to the sentencing hearing.
More footage from the Santorum event we crashed today. Beau Davis captures KPD pushing out the peaceful singers from the hallway in the library basement. More footage is coming, so stay tuned:
For those that have been following CopBlock.org, you might remember that myself and eight others were arrested while protesting the Manchester (NH) police – after four of its officers were cleared of wrong doing in the Strange Brew incident. It took about 6 months, considerably shorter than ‘justice’ for others, and to no surprise the judge (this was a bench trial) ruled in favor of the state.
Refusing arguments that I was engaged in Free Speech and Peaceful Assembly – as protected by that worthless paper known as the Constitution (seriously, when is the state going to recycle that shit) – stating Free Speech does not allow me to damage property. Yet, at my trial I wasn’t allowed to ask witnesses if they thought, or had proof, of me damaging anything. In fact, I wasn’t allowed to say the word damage at all because that is a legal conclusion for the court – who? yeah the ‘court’- to decide.
