A woman arrested while topless in downtown Keene last week was arrested again Tuesday, this time clothed, for protesting outside Keene District Court.
Heika Courser, 26, formerly of Richmond and currently listed as residing at 20 Forest St. in Keene, was charged with common law criminal contempt and obstructing government administration.
Courser was one of about 15 people standing on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse about 10:30 a.m. protesting a hearing for fellow Free Keene member Richard Paul.
Police Lt. Darryl Madden said Courser was arrested for “yelling” into a bullhorn, causing ruckus that led Keene District Court Judge Edward Burke to recess court. (more…)
I arrived on-scene as Heika was being loaded up into a KPD cruiser. Her crime? “Free” speech over a megaphone. We were kicked out of the court earlier by the robed man because a bunch of activists stood for Rich Paul when he was called. It was because we were kicked out of court that Monica went to get the megaphone – I had run home at this time to make a phone call I was late for, and when I returned, Heika was being arrested for “disorderly conduct”. According to witnesses, Heika was not on the megaphone when police arrived. They didn’t give her a warning that she was being “disorderly” – they just came up and arrested her. They are calling it a bail violation, so she’s in jail at least for the night and the arraignment is expected for tomorrow. Hopefully she won’t lose her job. 🙁
Varrin Swearingen is the president of the Free State Project, and lives in Keene. Here’s his letter to the editor that appeared in the Keene Sentinel about the Central Square controversy. These are his opinions as Varrin the individual, as he is not speaking for the FSP:
Some people feel the topless, smoking and drinking demonstrations in Keene’s Central Square have gotten out of hand. Others feel the government and its police are wrong for making and enforcing unjust behavior codes.
So far, this debate has centered mostly around what behavior is acceptable.
Ironically, what some would call immoral behavior simultaneously illuminates and distracts us from the true moral problem. There are two facets of this previously-hidden moral problem I’ll highlight. (more…)
Regarding my last blog… a commenter spurred an idea in my head.
If I was going to drink beer in public in violation of the law, I do it from a beer bottle that can be closed with a cap and keep the cap with me. If the police approached me I’d simply put the cap back on the beer.
If the police asked me if the beer is mine… I’d say that it is, because if I didn’t it is essentially abandoned property and they can pick it up and dump it out.
If someone, say you, claimed the property as your own, in order for the police to legally open (and use in court) the beer that you just closed, they now need a warrant. Be sure to assert that you consent to no search of your property, as opening the cap of a container is a “search.” This takes anywhere from 2-4 hours of the police and court time. This will get old real fast for the police… or it is already old, and they’re not going to do it.
As the police cannot lawfully seize someones closed beverage without the intent to get a warrant (and heaven knows they’re not going to want to invest hours and hours and thousands and thousands of dollars in applying for warrants) to investigate whether or not the beverage was used in violation of the law… it seems to me that they are only left with the option to leave peaceful people drinking beverages alone.
PS: If they did take my closed beer without the intent to apply for a warrant to determine if it is alcohol (and a violation of the law) I’d probably will have a good civil suit against the police for stealing my stuff. I’d be sure to follow up on this to make sure that they did apply for a warrant. Once the statue of limitations has expired and the state can no longer initiate a prosecution against me for violating an open container ordinance, I’d be calling Attorney Lance Webber to see what type of civil action I could bring against the government for violating a slew of different statues and constitutional amendments.
(I am not an attorney, this is not legal advice… Lance is though, and he is exactly who I’d go to if this happened to me.)
