In yet another sad jury decision, activist Rich Paul, the creator of the historic 420 celebrations in downtown Keene, was found guilty of multiple felony counts of selling cannabis to other consenting humans and one count of selling a substance prosecutors said he claimed was LSD. (Paul never claimed the substance was LSD but that didn’t matter to the jury.)
As is so typical, the jurors left the building together for protection from the raining questions from people who love the peaceful human the jurors sent to a cage. Not one juror would take $20 for a five minute interview.
However, there was one juror willing to speak, albeit only for a moment. He admits when asked why he didn’t make history today, that “We didn’t want to break the law.” and then accuses me of threatening him. He then gets into a dark blue minivan with a Romney sticker, tinted windows, and the license plate FISHERS:
They took three hours, so presumably some of the jurors were voting not guilty, but were turned. (more…)
I will be posting updates to the Free Keene facebook page (please click like, then hover over the liked button and select “Get Notifications” to be sure you see all FK posts to facebook), which will be automatically syndicated here via the Free Keene twitter:
The trial of Rich Paul continues into its third day. While the public waits on the full video, here is audio of the first day’s proceedings courtesy Free Concord:
This hearing happened on 4/15, the day before the beginning of Rich Paul’s trial. The state’s prosecutor, John Webb, would like to prevent the camera from recording the visages of several witnesses. Defense and the media (me) object. Judge ultimately decided to restrict recording the faces of the undercovers, but not the other agents. Here’s the raw video of the hearing:
Today outside of day one of the historic trial of Rich Paul for cannabis distribution, myself, Pete Eyre, and Ademo Freeman had the opportunity to interview FBI Special Agent Phil Christiana. Earlier in the day, on the witness stand, Phil admitted to working for the joint terrorism task force, and was very reluctant to reveal any information about his asking Rich Paul to wear a wire. When asked directly why he was investigating the Keene Activist Center, he stated that he could not speak about the KAC. Coincidentally (or not) two weeks after Rich’s arrest, city bureaucrats obtained a search warrant to inspect for smoke detectors and evidence of a ‘lodging house’.
Phil Christiana
As he exited the courthouse following his testimony today, the three of us asked Phil about his investigations into peaceful people in the Keene area. According to him, Rich’s case is the only time he has worked with the NH Drug Task Force, receiving approximately six calls for service from local and state agencies per year. His responses were brief and slick. When Kim Kossick, Rich’s public defender, inquired why Christiana offered to drop charges if Rich would wiretap others at the Keene Activist Center, the agent responded that he was not at liberty to discuss an investigation relative to the KAC. Christiana has had an interest in finding informants within the New Hampshire liberty movement for a few years. He approached Dave Ridley in 2005 but ceased interacting with him once informed that everything he relayed to Ridley would be shared publicly. According to Dave:
My experience with him was that he was more or less polite and professional…but creepy. He came to the same Keene house when I lived there, to learn more about Russell Kanning’s plans for civil disobedience at Manchester Airport’s TSA checkpoint. (more…)
In yet another sad jury decision, activist Rich Paul, the creator of the historic 420 celebrations in downtown Keene, was found guilty of multiple felony counts of selling cannabis to other consenting humans and one count of selling a substance prosecutors said he claimed was LSD. (Paul never claimed the substance was LSD but that didn’t matter to the jury.)
UPDATE 4/17: Rich’s trial for selling cannabis resumes at 9a. As you may already be aware, 
