Newly elected sheriff Eli Rivera has done the right thing and withdrawn all the no trespass orders that were issued by his predecessor, Dick Foote. As you may recall, the orders were recently ruled unconstitutional by Keene district court judge Ed Burke.
After Burke’s ruling, on behalf of all those issued the letters, I wrote to Eli requesting he officially rescind the unconstitutional orders and issue an apology to the activists whose rights have been trampled by these illegal orders. I also asked him to issue a proclamation that his agents will respect the rights of those who wish to access the courts and that media will no longer be threatened for recording in the court lobby.
As you know if you’ve been reading here for a while, I’ve been facing “disorderly conduct” charges in Palmer, MA for recording video in a town hall. Back in December, they dropped the misdemeanor charge and offered a deal on the remaining town ordinance violation. The ACLU of MA has come on board to assist and now they are changing the charge from a criminal to civil. That means the potential penalty drops from several hundred dollars to something like $25.
ACLU attorney Shawn Allyn will be filing a motion to dismiss on 1st amendment grounds and a hearing will happen regarding the motion on 5/22 at 2pm at Palmer district court. You are welcome to come watch!
Three heroic activists from Occupy NH stood up for your right to peaceably assemble and speak out and were arrested for it, then convicted by a jury of their “peers”. This is an over five hour trial RAW footage – there are some real gems in here. I hope someone will take the time to make a highlight reel. Don’t miss the exclusive interview with one of the jurors at the end.
On March 21, the two-day trial began in the case of State v Edwards, Grunewald & Richards. The State claims the 3 defendants committed the crime of criminal trespass in a public park on the night of October 19, 2011.
The State began their case by saying “this case is about choices” and said the defendants had 3 choices:
1) remain in the park until 11pm then leave
2) stay in the park past 11pm, receive a citation, then leave the park
3) stay in the park past 11pm, receive a citation, remain then get arrested. (more…)
At just about noon today, a Hillsborough County superior court jury returned from approximately an hour of deliberation with a guilty finding against three Occupy New Hampshire activists who did not voluntarily retrieve a citation and were removed via arrest from the temporary intentional community established in Veterans’ Park in Manchester’s downtown. The three were sentenced to ten days of incarceration at the infamous Valley Street jail, which is deferred on the condition that each completes 90 hours of community service and observes one year of good behavior. One occupier who was cited for curfew violation, but did not receive misdemeanor trespassing charges during the eviction responded,
Dislike, but unshocked. We were essentially asking the jury to find you not guilty on constitutional grounds. They are not constitutional law experts, this is an issue for the supreme court, and hopefully we get to challenge it there… (more…)
Manchester occupiers are on trial for criminal trespass today in superior court. Video is being recorded and updates are being posted on the Free Talk Live Facebook page. Here’s the twitter feed for those updates:
1. No meat for you!!
2. SB2 voting = uninformed voters.
3. Bradley Manning leaked pre-trial. Why he did it.
4. The state’s secret wiretapping won’t stand up in court. Because it’s secret. Duh!
5. What drone war?
Newly elected sheriff Eli Rivera has done the right thing and withdrawn all the no trespass orders that were issued by his predecessor, Dick Foote. As you may recall, the orders were recently ruled unconstitutional by Keene district court judge Ed Burke.
