This week’s adventurous installment of AKPF #1 features historical documentation of presentations delivered in years past, combined with modern declarations straight from the source of the content in Keene, NH. Enjoy this creative imagining of artistic qualities courtesy of the Aqua Keene Parking Force.
Pot Activist Rich Paul called me last night from the Cheshire County House of Corrections, where he is currently being held on a violation of probation charge. Support his fundraiser to help him escape the cage faster!
Mail Rich a Letter in Jail (FREE!) http://mailtojail.com
Video of Arrest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FexHHtgxWb8
Alleged violation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ7U9YGLIGA
Arrest Explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy4m-pbtqCk
Rich Paul’s Bitcoin Address: 1FwhAjyBkHNNgsHJjkAeyveqTioPvyvvtQ
This week, liberty activist Graham Colson was tried for a “contempt of court” charge that he received while out on bail after being arrested on a later-determined-unconstitutional no trespass notice from the “city of Keene”. In legal land there is a concept known as the doctrine of the “fruit of the poisoned tree”. My understanding of this is that if, for instance, the police raid your home on a bad warrant (say they lied to the judge to get the warrant), that any evidence collected based on that warrant cannot be used against you. It’s the “fruit of the poisoned tree”, and so charges must be dropped.
However, this doctrine appears to not apply to the “orders” of the judge. In Graham’s case, he was arrested for violating the no trespass notice from the city that banned him from Central Square. He was let out on bail conditions that included no contact with a couple of parking enforcers. He was later arrested for walking through Central Square and talking to a parking enforcer. For this act he was charged with “contempt of court”. Then, last summer, the district court’s judge Edward Burke threw out the no trespass letter as unconstitutional and illegal. Since the no trespass letter was illegal, shouldn’t the contempt case be thrown out too, since the bail conditions were originally issued on a case based on an illegal no trespass notice? Maybe in a system actually oriented towards justice – not this one.
So, the contempt charge went to court this week and Graham was found guilty, despite a valiant attempt to defend the charge by Garret Ean. Graham will be turning himself into the Keene Spiritual Retreat, aka the county jail to serve 60 days. He will have five months suspended over his head for two years. All because the city police were handing out illegal no trespass orders. Yeah, justice! Here’s the full video of the trial:
In this artistic, relaxing installment of AKPF #1, the audience is treated to imagery and nature sounds to fill out the twenty-nine minutes of airtime. Learn about recent celebrations in Robin Hood park, sign waves alongside the county corrections institution, and home chalking in suburban Keene.
Below is a playlist of raw videos from today’s Legal Land adventures:
Monday, June 16th 2014 – 10am – Today there was a trial in Keene at the new courthouse. “The State of New Hampshire” charged political activist Graham Colson with “Contempt of Court” for speaking to a Meter Maid while doing his activism.
The activism, called “Robin Hooding”, involves walking around feeding the expired parking meters. He says it saves people from tickets.
But Meter Maid Alan Givetz had a big problem with the Robin Hooders. So much of a problem that he quit over the situation. He called the police on Graham for speaking to him, and the court defended the unconstitutional ban on free speech.
Hero Rich Paul is behind bars again! He is currently wearing orange and being held in D-Block. (That’s where they keep prisoners who haven’t yet been sentenced.) He can accept visitors, but not phone calls. The best way to write to him is using a free service called http://MailtoJail.com. He might be in there for a while, so please write him often, as it is his only connection to the outside world.
Except one. The Jail Sign-Wave is an activism event where people bring banners, posters, and flags outside the jail, and they wave up at the prisoners caged inside. Word quickly spreads around the cell block, and soon everyone is at their windows waving back. Many of them will never have a single visitor for months or years. There’s a reason they come to the windows and wave every week. Humans need connection.
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