As journalist and videographer Sam Dodson was screaming from another room, David Krouse and other activists were ordered to leave the lobby of the allegedly public Keene district court. Krouse sat down and remained peacefully noncooperative. For this, he was arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct”. Last week he was sentenced to six days in the Cheshire jail and that sentence began this morning, as activists gathered to see him off.
At Keene District court today Patrick Shields, a resident of Keene, was put on trial by the State for charges stemming from the April 13th Court Lobby incident. At the start of the trial Patrick was informed that the Disorderly Conduct charge was being dropped leaving only the Resisting Arrest charge on the docket.
The trial was very similar to the two held on Monday, July 27 where David Krouse and Nick Ryder faced charges of Disorderly Conduct from the same incident. Police Prosecutor Eli Rivera provided the State’s Testimony, repeating the same statements heard Monday. Mr. Shields’ argument focused on the fact that Officer Rivera, the arresting officer per the summons, had no physical contact with Mr. Shields and because of this there was nothing to resist as far as a physical arrest.
Patrick also testified that his thought process at the time, given the situation, provided him with one moral option. He chose to attain a purely passive state and not interact with the Officers.
Judge Edward Burke first congratulated Mr. Shields on his preparation for the trial and then found him guilty. The punishment handed down was a $1000 fine – suspended. Should Patrick be convicted of a Class B or greater misdemeanor or a felony within the next year he will have to pay the fine or serve roughly 20 days in jail.
As previously posted, there were trials on Monday for some of the activists charged with disorderly conduct for not leaving the courtroom lobby on April 13, 2009. Only two ended up having trial on Monday, as two had their charges dropped, and one trial was continued while Kurt Hoffman further prepares with his lawyer. The full trial videos of Nick Ryder and David Krouse are up for viewing.
Nick’s case was “taken under advisement”, and will be ruled on and the verdict mailed. We will certainly post an update here when we have one.
David was found guilty, and will be forced to serve 6 days in jail if he refuses their fine money.
After being rejected at the Canadian border, Jason and Pete decided to make a previously unscheduled stop in Keene where they engaged in some video camera disobedience at the Keene district court, appeared on Free Talk Live for the entire show, and the next morning volunteered at the Hope Chapel repainting. Video:
On Friday July 24, 2009 liberty activist Richard (Sam A. Robrin) and Tim (zaphar) received letters in the mail dropping the disorderly conduct charges brought against them by the “City of Keene” Corporation Police Department. Below is a scanned image of one of the letters.
Well, besides the usual antics (turning on the lightbar then driving, perhaps speeding, ahead so we’d follow, then turning off the lightbar, etc), the KPD was friendly as usual Saturday night. The police presence seemed heavy, but they claimed it was a normal Saturday night.
As before, some drunk white kids did not appreciate or like copwatchers. After watching their friend pepper sprayed and held to the ground, we approached an SUV with 3 people remaining inside. The girl in the back very much appreciated us, but the guy next to her got angry at us. Nick told him that we were there to make sure the cops didn’t hurt him. This combined with the soothing of the girl who liked us being there did calm him down. The girl in the front seat however, was not pleased at all (her boyfriend was the pepper sprayee). She was yelling at us, and particularly 280, who had the camera, to go away. The girl in the back seat tried to calm her down, while the guy was asking for a lighter. The girl in back also wanted a lighter, but the police would not allow 280 to approach.
After the girl up front refused to calm down, we left the scene to watch from a nearby parking lot. After the cops began to leave, we again approached the SUV. I apologized to the woman in front who was still hysterical and now began to threaten us. We managed to give a lighter and a WARNING flier to the girl in the back. Even though the guy had just been given a free lighter, the antics of the woman in front had whipped up his anger again and he stepped out of the vehicle and indicated he was ready to fight all four of us. By this time KPD was already back and intervening with him. We all decided it was time to go. Here’s the video:
As journalist and videographer Sam Dodson was screaming from another room, David Krouse and other activists were ordered to leave the lobby of the allegedly public Keene district court. Krouse sat down and remained peacefully noncooperative. For this, he was arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct”. Last week he was sentenced to six days in the Cheshire jail and that sentence began this morning, as activists gathered to see him off.
On Friday July 24, 2009 liberty activist Richard (Sam A. Robrin) and Tim (zaphar) received letters in the mail dropping the disorderly conduct charges brought against them by the “City of Keene” Corporation Police Department. Below is a scanned image of one of the letters.
