by Ian | Aug 3, 2022 |
Nobody
In a recent post here at Free Keene, Chris Waid presented his notes from the sentencing hearing for Nobody as a, “Big win for Mr. Nobody“. This is ridiculous spin. For those who didn’t hear the news, my co-defendant Nobody was recently sentenced to “time served” of approximately six months in jail as well as $2,100 in fines and fees, a forfeiture of $10,000, and two years’ probation. He had taken a plea to one count of “wire fraud”, despite not having defrauded anyone. Like the other Crypto Six defendants, he was intimidated into a plea deal by the threat of further charges.
Whether or not he took the plea and even if he went to trial and “won” on every count – as Aria and I are hoping to do – it would not be a “win”. As Mark Stevens put it in his book, “Adventures in Legal Land“, whenever you are targeted by the state, it is a loss. Even if you “win” and defeat the charges, you still lose your time. You still lose your ability to focus on things that are actually important to you instead of focusing on a criminal trial and the stress of bail conditions and the government’s axe hanging over your head. Basically, when they bring charges against you, you are going to lose – the only question is how much?
In Nobody’s case, he went through a horribly and unnecessarily violent pre-dawn raid on his home, spent several months behind bars, most of a year on restrictive bail conditions, and now is having his personal finances decimated. He has nearly nothing left after paying their extractions, is now a federal felon for life, and is still under multiple probation restrictions for two years. All of this damage has been brought upon him simply because, as he described it, he was convicted of, “contempt of bank”. It’s great that he doesn’t have to go back to prison, but this is not a win.
In other Crypto Six news, the remaining two defendants, Aria DiMezzo and me, have had motions filed by our defense attorneys, including a motion to dismiss the “money transmitter” charges, a motion to block the prosecution from using blockchain analysis experts, and a notice of a “public authority defense”. The hearing on these motions is set for September 1st at 9:30am at Concord Federal District Court Church.
by Ian | Jul 23, 2022 |
29% agree, “I would prefer New Hampshire to govern itself as an independent country.”
Thanks to the folks at the Foundation for New Hampshire Independence, we now have the results (PDF, web) of their first-ever scientific poll of the people of NH on various questions related to NH independence from the United States! Conducted by SurveyUSA, 625 adults in New Hampshire were asked 27 questions, so there’s a lot of data to go through, but here are some important takeaways.
First, 29% of all respondents either said they strongly agree or somewhat agree that they “would prefer New Hampshire to govern itself as an independent country.” This alone is tremendous news! Nearly one in three already onboard is an excellent starting point to begin persuading the rest of the population. Given only 2/3rds are needed to pass a constitutional amendment, we’re almost halfway there! Another 14% said they were “not sure”, so those people are already on the fence on the issue.
Someone may claim this is a fluke poll, but it’s actually in line with another secession poll conducted in 2021 by Bright Line Watch which asked people across the country if they “support seceding from the US to form a new regional union”. It’s not as good of a question for our purposes, as we don’t want to be in a union with the rest of New England, but it does give some insight into regional interest in independence. In that poll, 34% of New Englanders said they support seceding for joining a regional union! That result is right in line with the SurveyUSA numbers targeting only NH respondents.
63% agree, “I trust my state government more than I trust the federal government.”
An even more interesting takeaway from the NH poll is that 52% of republicans say they strongly agree or somewhat agree that they “would prefer New Hampshire to govern itself as an independent country.” Plus, 11% said they were “not sure”. When the historic, proposed constitutional amendment to peacefully secede came up this year in the state house, despite having several republican sponsors, the establishment republicans spoke firmly against it. Others quietly told us they agreed with the bill, but were too afraid they’d lose their re-election if they supported it. Ultimately only thirteen voted against the establishment motion to table the bill. Now that we have the encouraging results of this poll showing majority republican support for secession, perhaps some of the state reps will find a spine. Hopefully the newly established NH Independence PAC will be able to use this data to try to persuade them to stand up in favor of independence for New Hampshire.
As the Foundation for NH Independence pointed out in their announcement of the poll numbers, over time people’s opinions can shift on an issue once considered impossible, like shall-issue gun permits. They say in 1990 that shall-issue permits were less popular than secession is today, but opinions changed and now the supermajority of states have them. Let’s look at some reasons why the numbers are going to shift in favor of independence for NH:
- The federal government is going to become more and more oppressive, inflation is going to continue destroying peoples’ livelihoods, and war against peaceful people around the planet will continue. You can count on the feds to get more evil, regardless of who wins the election. Plus, large majorities of NH people already know the fed gov is bad, as shown by other questions on the poll:
- 79% agreed: “The federal government’s financial decisions and economic regulations hurt our livelihoods and could lead to inflation and bankruptcy.”
- 69% agreed: “Politicians in Washington, DC violate our rights more than they protect our rights.”
- 64% agreed: “Laws, regulations, and court rulings coming out of Washington, DC are incompatible with New Hampshire’s culture of freedom.”
- 63% agreed: “I trust my state government more than I trust the federal government.”
- Only 29% of NH respondents think that the feds, “have my best interests in mind when passing legislation.”
We already have roughly 2/3rds of people in NH who are frustrated with the federal government. As the feds continue to get worse, more and more will let go of their indoctrinated, nationalistic love of the United States and join the side of NH independence.
- Of people over 65, only 5% strongly support secession. Time is on our side.
- “National Divorce” has been trending in recent months and the conversations about secession are going to continue. Meanwhile people around the country are migrating to states that they consider more like-minded to their beliefs.
- The Free State Project, a migration of libertarian activists to New Hampshire, had record movers in 2021 and 2022 may top that number. Most of these people support secession and are active. The more people talk to their neighbors and friends about independence, the more will flip to supportive.
- Pro-independence activists in NH were energized by the historic proposal to put NH independence on the ballot as a constitutional amendment. New groups have been started, like the NH Independence PAC, which is just getting its feet wet. The now-decade-old Foundation for NH Independence has elected Alu Axelman, author and independence-superactivist to its president seat. With more liberty activists moving in and getting excited about this issue, it’s not going anywhere but forward.
Interestingly, only 39% of respondents agreed that, “If New Hampshire were not already part of the United States, it would be beneficial for the state to join, and be governed by DC.” Showing that even though some in NH aren’t ready to leave just yet, they sure wouldn’t want to join this terrible union! Further, 42% said that the question of secession should be put to New Hampshire voters, and 12% said “not sure”.
NHexit.US Logo
Whenever one speaks to people about declaring independence from the United States, the number one objection is the fear that the military will be used to attack the state that is seceding. This is an understandable fear, given what happened in the 1800s. However, this poll shows it has no basis in reality, as across all eight states that were polled, an average of only 6% would support military intervention if a state secedes. While 37% would support some form of “economic sanctions”, the majority – 57% – say the state should simply be allowed to leave. Americans don’t want to kill their own families and friends just because they want to leave the union and if the federal government gets violent with a seceding state, it will only undermine their legitimacy even further.
The New Hampshire Independence movement is just getting started and I’m excited that so many people are already supportive. If you love liberty and want to secede, you should be here in NH. Come help us make this a reality sooner rather than later. Time is of the essence. You can start by signing the petition at NHexit.US!
You can see the full results including crosstabs (PDF, web) for yourself, so feel free to dig through the data yourself!
by Ian | Jun 17, 2022 |
Former Winchester Police Lt Penny Witherbee, photo from Brattleboro Reformer
Lazy and/or corrupt Cheshire county police have been featured recently in a lengthy article by award-winning journalist Damien Fisher. Fisher tells the complicated story of Donna Pelliccia and her daughter who were targeted by a neighbor, Hayley Philbrick, whose false allegations against Pelliccia and her daughter resulted in Pelliccia thrown in Cheshire County jail on charges that were eventually dropped. All thanks to shoddy police “work” by cops in Troy and Winchester New Hampshire. Winchester is a town known for its deep corruption.
In October of 2020, Philbrick was shopping false claims around to different area police departments, alleging her neighbor Pelliccia threatened her via facebook. She obtained a restraining order against Pelliccia based on the fake account’s messages and then told Winchester police on October 14th that the threats were continuing. Winchester police then requested Troy police to arrest Pelliccia for violating the restraining order. No one from either department bothered to investigate any party’s claims, including Pelliccia’s denial that the facebook account was hers. After successfully jailing Pelliccia for a day, the morning of October 16th, Philbrick went to Keene police and claimed further contact by Pelliccia. However, KPD’s Christina Paterno actually bothered to examine Philbrick’s claims and determined they were easily falsified.
Having had no success with KPD, Philbrick returned to Winchester PD on the same day she visited KPD and made more claims of harassment by the facebook account masquerading as Pelliccia. Winchester PD Lieutenant Penny Witherbee had Pelliccia arrested AGAIN and this time she was held for several days until October 21st. Despite Pelliccia being in jail, Philbrick continued to claim messages were coming to her from the alleged Pelliccia facebook. Lt. Witherbee finally began investigating the source of the facebook messages but started by talking to Philbrick who tried to blame Pelliccia’s daughter. So Witherbee got a warrant and seized Pelliccia’s daughter’s devices to ostensibly search for evidence of the threats or use of the facebook account in question, “pelliccia.donna”. The search and seizure was conducted on Pelliccia’s daughter while Pelliccia was in jail. Pelliccia’s daughter has a neurological condition and autoimmune disorder and can have difficulty walking.
A month after her release from jail, the case against Pelliccia was dropped. Seeking some form of vindication, she complained to the court and Cheshire Sheriff deputy Todd Faulkner was assigned to the case. His investigation over several months determined that Winchester PD never bothered to conduct any examination of the devices they seized, never bothered to investigate Philbrick’s claims before arresting Pelliccia more than once, and Witherbee’s botched “investigation” made it impossible for him to determine beyond a reasonable doubt that Philbrick had indeed created the account and posed as Pelliccia on facebook, though he believed that was the case based on a preponderance of the evidence.
Hayley Philbrick
However, according to Faulkner’s report, over a year later, in January of 2022 Philbrick went to Jaffrey police to claim that Pelliccia’s daughter was sending her threatening text messages via a phone number from a company called TextNow. Since the Jaffrey detective, Jeremy K LeBlanc actually bothered to investigate Philbrick’s claims, he easily discovered that the number from which the threatening messages had originated was associated with a TextNow account registered to Philbrick’s email address! The report filed by LeBlanc says Philbrick had sent him screenshots of the texts from the very same email. He confronted Philbrick with what he’d learned and she denied it, claiming someone was “setting her up”. LeBlanc subsequently arrested Philbrick and charged her with “False Reports to Law Enforcement”, “False Swearing”, and “Falsifying Physical Evidence”. The latter charge is a Class A misdemeanor, meaning Philbrick is facing up to a year in jail on that charge. According to court records, Philbrick has a “competency hearing” on August 9th in Jaffrey District Court.
Witherbee had worked at Brattleboro Police in Vermont from 2002 through 2018 when she resigned and sued the department over alleged sexual harassment, ultimately settling with the town government for a $35,000 payout. Not long after botching the Philbrick/Pelliccia case, Witherbee resigned from the Winchester police. Is she simply lazy and incompetent, corrupt, or all of the above? According to Fisher’s story, Witherbee has been hired again, this time by Chesterfield, NH police.
For even more background on this case, visit Thomas Parisi’s channel on YouTube, where various footage recorded by police when investigating this case has been posted, including Pelliccia’s first arrest, Witherbee’s interview with Philbrick prior to Pelliccia’s second arrest, and more.
by Ian | May 19, 2022 |
Skylar Bennett aka Savage Truth 603
Skylar Bennett, aka “Savage Truth 603” was arrested in December 2020 at New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu’s house during what was intended to be a candlelight vigil. Simultaneously, nine other people were ticketed for violating an unconstitutional town ordinance against “picketing”. So far, all the people charged with picketing have been found “not guilty”.
Skylar, who faced trial for not just “picketing”, but also “disorderly conduct”, and “criminal trespass” earlier this month, has been found “not guilty” on all charges!
It’s an amazing victory and proof that the state’s targeting of the activists protesting at Sununu’s home is so illegal that not even the lowly district court judge can rule in the state’s favor.
You can watch the full trial from the courthouse in Brentwood, NH below:
At least two other people remain charged with “picketing”, one who was the last of the Nine ticketed in December, and one man charged with it during a “honk brigade” event in 2021. Stay tuned to Free Keene for the latest on the “Newfields Nine”.
by Ian | Apr 30, 2022 |
Mr Bitcoin & Bitcoin Gandhi Visit Federal Reserve Bank Of Boston In Support Of The Crypto6
The last month has been a busy one in the “Crypto Six” case. First, three of the Six took felony “wire fraud” plea deals after prosecutors threatened to load them up with even more victimless “crime” charges. Even though no one was actually defrauded out of any money or property, the three – Renee and Andy Spinella and Nobody – agreed to become federal felons, reluctantly admitting guilt to one count each of “wire fraud”, despite no one actually being defrauded out of money or property.
Unfortunately, even though the three are completely peaceful, honest people, now they will be saddled with felony convictions that makes them look dishonest. It’s understandable though, why they would take such a plea. The federal gang is a scary bunch of people and they know how to intimidate. Even when a defendant did nothing wrong, that doesn’t mean a jury will do the right thing and set the accused free. The supermajority of people charged criminally at the state or federal level will take the plea deal, simply because they see it as a way to make their suffering end. Or at least, so it seems in the moment. While it may end the current prosecution, it sets them up for failure later if they are ever arrested again, as then they have a felony conviction, so the next sentence will be even harder.
Though federal juries have surprisingly issued some “not guilty” verdicts in recent years, like the verdicts in the Michigan governor “kidnapping” cases and the Bundy ranch cases, generally juries are pretty obedient to the state, so it’s highly risky to take a case to trial. Plus, federal cases are frequently biased against the defense, like that of Ross Ulbricht, where they weren’t able to call many witnesses or make the case they wanted. So, I don’t blame my friends for admitting to “crimes” they didn’t commit just so they can have some predictability as to what is coming next for them. Nobody is expecting a verdict of “time served” for the six months he did behind bars last year prior to being granted bail in September. Renee is facing up to 18 months in prison and Andy is expecting some amount of probation, or so I hear. I’m still not allowed to speak with my friends under my bail conditions. Their sentencing dates are in late July.
The fourth of the Crypto Six, Colleen Rietmann, co-owner of Mighty Moose Mart in Keene, has had her charges dropped. Perhaps the feds did not want to be seen prosecuting a grandmother in front of a jury at the same time as they are trying to allege that Aria DiMezzo and I were victimizing elderly women caught in romance scams online.
NH’s Unmatched Bitcoin Community
Curiously, during one of the plea deal hearings this month, the prosecutors admitted that there were no damages to the “victims”, so they couldn’t ask for any restitution as part of the sentencing. How exactly then were these banks “victimized” by fraud if no money or property was lost? I guess we’ll find out when the case goes to trial this November. As Nobody put it, he has been convicted of “contempt of bank”. Apparently it’s felony charges with up to 30 years in prison for anyone who hurts the banks’ feelings in the “free” country of America.
While it’s no fun to be under highly restrictive bail conditions – I have an ankle monitor on for nearly a year now – at least now all the feds’ cards are finally laid on the table and now we can construct our defense.
The Crypto Six case is an attack on our freedoms. It is an attack against freedom of speech, freedom of religion, libertarian activists in New Hampshire, and against cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. While we are not the first to be accused of victimless “crimes” for spreading Bitcoin, nearly all of those so accused in the past have taken the plea deals, out of fear for what could happen. Aria and I are going to trial and so the feds will actually have to put on their case for the first time, in a desperate attempt to prop up the ever-inflating US Dollar and the banking cartel. Bitcoin is not a crime!
by Ian | Apr 8, 2022 |
At the end of December of 2021, Frank “Footloose” Staples was put on trial for “disorderly conduct” for allegedly speaking “too loudly” outside NH governor Chris Sununu’s house. The robed woman at Exeter District Court in Brentwood, NH found him guilty and scheduled a sentencing date, which was today.
Here’s the full video of the entire hearing, where Footloose goes off on the court goons, getting much louder than he did outside Sununu’s house. He also outright refused to pay the fine and demanded he be put in jail instead – the robed woman ignored it and left the court. Enjoy!
