The last time we heard about how many taxpayer dollars the city of Keene has spent on their frivolous lawsuit to try to crush the rights of Keene’s Robin Hooders, it was December of 2013, the year they filed the suits against us.
Keene’s Robin Hooders were feeding expired parking meters in relative obscurity until the city filed its suit in May of 2013. That suit blew up into a huge storm of publicity, making Keene’s government the laughingstock of the world.
Attorney Charles Bauer is getting very rich from taxpayer dollars.
Determined not to show any good sense, the city gang continued to lavish tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on failure after failure in this case. They hired the go-to law firm for all NH municipalities, “Gallagher, Callahan, and Gartrell” (the same firm that lost the Gericke case, which upheld the right to record police). Hey, it’s not like it’s the city’s money – they stole it from Keene’s productive class – the people.
Now the case is going back to the NH supreme court on appeal, but mayor Lane claims the law firm is going to cut them a break on this appeal and do it pro-bono. How generous of Bauer’s firm! (Robin Hood attorney Jon Meyer has been pro-bono from day one.)
After the city’s latest failure at the superior court, once again the city has given us an early Christmas present by deciding to appeal the most recent decision to the NH Supreme court.
The city’s expensive attorneys from Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrellwaited until the LAST possible day they could file to legally file the appeal (PDF). The city has already spent countless dollars on this case and this latest appeal is a further waste of taxpayer funds.
The appeal is for the Supreme court to look ONLY at the lower court’s ruling regarding the request for the “buffer zone” injunction. The NH Supreme court has already decided the allegations of “tortious interference”, “civil conspiracy”, “negligence”, and the demand for financial compensation were unfounded and the activities engaged in by the Robin Hooders are protected by the first amendment.
Once again the robin hooders will be represented by the NH Civil Liberties Union’s Jon Meyer who expects the case to be heard sometime in the summer of 2016, three years after the case was first filed in 2013. We will keep you up-to-date on any further developments.
Now, mainstream media is picking up the news via an AP story (apparently sourced from NH’s Valley News) that is popping up in places like the Washington Post, FOX News, and dozens more outlets nationwide.
With two months to go and other speakers to be announced, the 2016 Liberty Forum is looking like it will be an amazing event.
2016 is also the year that the FSP will reach its goal of 20,000 people pledged to move to New Hampshire to work toward more liberty. The only question is when. Just this weekend, the Free State Project crossed 90% of its goal. In order to push to the goal faster, they’ve launched a fundraising campaign to buy facebook ads. Here’s the pitch video produced by Free Keene blogger JJ Schlessinger:
After ten years of service, Shire Free Church minister Mark Edge is leaving the airwaves of Free Talk Live, where he spent eighteen hours per week on-air creating entertaining radio with a variety of co-hosts and callers.
Now, he’ll no longer be behind a microphone on Free Talk Live and will be spending an indefinite period of time with his family each night. He is leaving it in listeners’ hands to decide when he can return to the show.
Last week I published a story here at Free Keene about local hate group member Justin Paquette being arrested on two counts of felony armed robbery for allegedly holding up two local convenience stores with a knife.
Very soon after publishing, I was contacted directly by a local business owner who disputed that the Justin Paquette that had assaulted my friend Derrick J back in 2014 and was present during a physical attack by his friend on a peaceful local chalker, was in fact not the same Justin Paquette as was arrested last week for allegedly robbing the gas stations.
Turns out, there are indeed two Justin Paquettes in Keene. It also turns out, after some research at Cheshire superior court this week, that both Justin Paquettes have been arrested for felony armed robbery.
The original, Justin M. Paquette, just had a birthday this month and is now 32. Court records show that this summer he took a plea deal on a felony armed robbery and misdemeanor “criminal threatening”. You can read the case summary in this PDF, which includes his sentence. (He’s currently out on probation and has a suspended sentence for five years.)
New Justin Paquette is younger, 27, and is now currently facing the fresh armed robbery charges from last week’s robberies, where he allegedly brandished a knife at convenience store clerks.
I am sorry for my mistake. Thanks to all who brought it to my attention. Now we know to beware of anyone named Justin Paquette. Any good person named Justin Paquette may want to file for a name change with their local probate court.
At one point, Pierce was illegally locked out of the courtroom, as Cheshire superior court has a strange policy that locks the doors during opening and closing statements. Defense attorney Paul Garrity objected to both closings on constitutional grounds, as it should be a public trial. Judge John C Kissinger, who in many cases comes across as a relatively fair judge, refused to budge on his policy and kept the doors locked.
In other media news, the Keene Sentinel published a small report. The full seven-hour trial video is encoding as I write this and should be up hopefully sometime tomorrow. Stay tuned here to Free Keene for the latest.
