Several libertarian activists gathered in Manchester recently for a “gun buyback” event where they attempted to persuade Manchester police to trade their guns for $25 gift cards. Organizers and attendees said they wanted to bring attention to police violence and “qualified immunity” which protects officers from responsibility for their actions. Kudos to Justin O’Donnell for being there and getting video:
Federal District Church Court
One of the biggest frustrations with the federal court system is the fact that recording hearings in any form is completely forbidden, and has been since 1946. No audio, no video, no photographs can be taken. Only pen/pencil and paper are allowed. We tried to get the judge to provide at least an online/phone audio feed as the federal civil courts had done since COVID. The courtroom is wired for sound and video at least since COVID, but alas, we were not successful in our request.
Free Keene blogger Chris Waid did an amazing job taking and transcribing notes every day and those were posted here, but no one sitting in the audience can capture all that is said. Thankfully, the court does offer an official record, which of course one must pay for. Since I plan to appeal my ridiculous convictions for victimless “crimes” regarding selling bitcoin, we have to have the full transcripts. Now we do and I’m legally able to share them publicly.
To make them easier to search and copy, I’ve put them all through Optical Character Recognition, so you can easily select blocks of text you might want to use for whatever purpose. Certainly there are many ridiculous moments that were hopefully somewhat captured by text, though obviously you don’t have the benefit of the witness’ facial expressions. Hopefully someday cameras will be allowed into federal courts, but for now full transcripts months later are the best we can do.
You can download all the trial transcripts in PDF form here as a ZIP file. It also includes the following index as a TXT file, showing the witnesses called on each day. Each PDF also has its own index up front showing the witnesses and pages on which their direct, cross, and any redirect examinations of them took place. Each day usually has two files, one for morning and one for afternoon. You can click each individually below if you don’t want to download them all at once in the ZIP file. (Depending on your browser, you may need to right click and save as to get the download working.)
Day 1 PM – Opening Statements
Day 2 AM – PROSECUTION – Alexandra Comolli
Day 2 PM – Alexandra Comolli, Theodore Vlahakis
Day 3 AM – Theodore Vlahakis, Kathryn Thibault, Kevin McCusker, Derek Feather
Day 3 PM – Christopher Rietmann, Colleen Fordham
Day 4 AM – Hope Cherry, Bruce Sweet, Pavel Prilotsky
Day 4 PM – Pavel Prilotsky, Renee Spinella
Day 5 AM – Dustin Wong, Nicholas Nathans, James Rossell, Patrick Brown, Harold Jones
Day 5 PM – Harold Jones, Melanie Neighbors, Karla Cino
Day 6 AM – Kendall McBrearty
Day 6 PM – Dannela Varel, Kendall McBrearty
Day 7 AM – Kendall McBrearty, Rebecca Ault, Kate Eyerman, Nancy Triestram
Day 7 PM – Nancy Triestram, Diane Cacace, Thomas Connolly, Colleen Ranahan
Day 8 AM – Renee Spinella
Day 9 AM – DEFENSE – Keith Murphy, Max Santonastaso, Edward Forster, Adam Mosher, Dael Chapman, Carolynn Urbanski, Melinda Cambiar, Ian Freeman
Day 9 PM – Ian Freeman
Day 10 AM – Mohammed Ali, Paul Niwa, Closing Arguments
Day 10 PM – Jury Instructions
Day 11 – Verdict
The latest on the case is both sides are currently arguing over the motion to dismiss that my attorney, Mark Sisti, made during the trial at both the close of prosecution and at the end of the defense. Presuming the judge does not throw out all eight counts, we will move to sentencing that is currently set for August 17th, though there is a good chance that will be delayed yet again. Should you wish to write the judge on my behalf, you can find instructions and an address here.
Meanwhile, my co-defendant Aria DiMezzo is in a federal prison camp in Devens, MA serving an 18-month sentence for the completely victimless paperwork violation of operating a “money transmitting business” without a government permission slip. Sadly, but understandably – it’s scary to face down a dozen charges in front of government-biased juries – she took a plea to the charge despite the statutes not mentioning cryptocurrency in any way and despite the fact that bitcoin is never “transmitted” at all, by the government’s own definition of “transmitting”. Unfortunately one cannot appeal a plea deal under most circumstances, so she’ll have to serve some as-yet-undetermined amount of the 18-month sentence. However, you can help her make the time go faster by writing her letters, sending books, or money for commissary. Instructions are here at AriaDiMezzo.com.
As always, stay tuned here to Free Keene or Free Talk Live for the latest.
A couple of years ago, the New Hampshire Goldback was created after the original Utah Goldback proved incredibly popular at the 2020 Porcfest. A gorgeous, spendable, interchangeable type of gold money available in denominations as small 1/1000th of an ounce of 24 karat gold, the NH Goldback has taken the NH freedom community by storm – giving even cryptocurrency serious competition.
Now, the company behind the Goldback, Alpine Gold, has launched its first physical branch location and they chose Manchester, NH!
I decided I needed to see it for myself, so I set an appointment with Adam Van, the manager, and got him to answer all my questions about the services they provide the community, and the entire eastern portion of the United States. It’s pretty cool – watch the interview here:
Give them a call at (801) 770-2565 x1201 and stop in to see for yourself.
A few weeks ago, 70 state reps voted to end drug prohibition entirely and last week, 90 state reps voted to end prohibition on dimethyltryptamine (DMT)! Here’s the full video from the house floor featuring reps Jason Gerhard, Matt Santonastaso, and Jonah Wheeler speaking in favor of the bill, HB 216, which sadly lost 274-97. However, 26% is a good first try.
Clearly, younger state reps understand the urgency of ending the insane war on drugs and as the older prohibitionist reps die off and are replaced by free staters as our number and influence increases, we will be ever closer to ending the madness of drug prohibition in our lifetime.
Despite spending a dozen years in federal prison for helping tax freedom advocates Ed and Elaine Brown in 2006, Jason Gerhard is still taking on the evil IRS. Now a NH state representative, Gerhard filed a House Resolution, HR 16 that -if passed- would officially ask the IRS three tough questions:
Unfortunately, the state house voted 283-60 – full roll call here – to kill the resolution. Thanks though to the sixty reps who voted for it, including Keene’s Jodi Newell. Here’s the full video from the house floor discussion and vote:
Nearly 20% of those voting on HB581 yesterday in the full New Hampshire house session, voted for ending the insane war on drugs ENTIRELY! The bill came out of nowhere, filed by rep Matt Santonastaso with little fanfare or press attention, despite the epic attack on the War on Drugs it represents. The public hearing came-and-went with little support, or opposition.
Yesterday, at the full house session, the bill came up for a vote and reps Santonastaso and Jonah Wheeler made excellent speeches in favor of ending the failed war on drugs, while Terry Roy who positions himself as a incremental drug reformer used fearmongering language to scare the reps into voting to continue the destruction of our neighbors’ lives. They then voted 286-70 to kill the bill.
Here’s a link to the full roll call showing exactly how all the representatives voted. Kudos to the brave 35 Republicans and 35 Democrats who did the right thing. Sadly many “A+” rated “liberty reps” voted to continue the drug war. What were they thinking? Anyone with a “Yes” vote on the roll call voted to kill the bill, so feel free to reach out to them and ask why. You can watch the full hearing here:
Recent Forum Posts
