Freedom of press and miranda rights violated!!!

Freedom of press and miranda rights violated!!!
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJcYZqTxq2U&feature=channel_page]YouTube - NH court rejects writs of habeas corpus[/ame]

If you were a member of the press would you be outraged if you were thrown in a jail cell for exercising you right of press? Unfortunately in Keen, New Hampshire this has happened to a member of the press named Sam Dodson. Sam was at the court to get a copy of the sign on the wall restricting cameras in the lobby. Lance the court security person had previously claimed it's an order. Only problem, orders are signed by an issuing judge. This order and had no signature, does not have the court seal anywhere on it and has not even been filed with the clerk. Essentially the order does not exist. Sam brought his video camera into the public court lobby and was recording before a trial and was arrested soon after recording began. The only thing they could charge Sam with at the time was disorderly conduct. Regardless of if you are part of the press you should be disgusted by the fact that our rights are being stomped on! I hope you have the time to read about it, here is a link to Sam's blog that explains what happened: Free Keene » SamIam he writes letters from his jail cell and mails them to a member of Free Keene to post on his blogs. This may seem like a small case but if it happened to Sam it could happen to any other member of the press and no matter how small one person's right is just as important as one million people's rights.



A group of people in New Hampshire are taking a non-violent stand against big government, they have started what they call the Free State Project and since 2003, 704 people have moved to New Hampshire where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property.

Update 5/18
The local news paper finally talked this some depth about Sam's story, which the AP took and hasn't done anything with. Also, a fox T.V. station in Vermont acknowledged Sam was jailed illegally and reported it. There was also a reporter from the Boston Globe that came to Keen, New Hampshire but has not published anything.

Sam is charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, having property without a serial number and failure to process. Sam was charged with failure to process because he is using his right to remain silent and refusing to give his name. Since he won't be processed the court said that they are going to hold him indefinitely. The Keen police already know everything about him because of his fingerprints but refuse to move the case until he tells the courts his name. After 5 weeks of being imprisoned he filed a demurrer against the court for 3 of those charges. What the demurrer stated was that in the first charge of resisting arrest, is unlawful because when Sam was arrested he went limp. If you have watched any of the news stations you surley saw at least one member of the Catholic church arrested for trespassing on the Notre Dame campus and have to be carried away because he went limp. During the civil rights movement people went limp and were not charged with resisting arrest. The second charge against Sam is having property without a serial number. They could not find a serial number on Sam's video camera. The court sent his camera to a camera shop, the camera shop then found the serial number and sent the camera back. The reason the courts haven't dropped the charge is because they just haven't gotten around to it yet. It has been 3 weeks since the camera's serial number was found.
His third charge of disorderly conduct is unlawful because according to New Hampshire law stats that it is unlawful for On-Duty police officers to allege disorderly conduct. All they can tell you is to leave. Sam was not told to leave he was told to stop recording. It is illegal for the police to stop audio or video recording in a public place because that is a violation of the First Amendment.



Since April 15th Sam has requested a speedy trial, a probable cause hearing, waived his arraignment and entered a plea. In total 4 pages of arguments and case law to support and back up his claims.
The courts response: They send in the county attorney and declare the complaints are not sufficient and that all the complaints are essentially the same thing and they don't have to read them. So they have to spend a lot of money to have the county attorney read these legal documents that Sam is filing, on top of the $80 per day it costs the county the keep Sam locked up.

Also Sam has filed pleas of habeas corpus to the superior court of New Hampshire. Habeas corpus is a legal action through which a person can seek relief from unlawful detention. The first writ was denied because it was not written properly; the second one was denied because Sam had yet to process. Remember Sam is being held indefinitely because he was exercising his right to remain silent and refusing to give the courts his name although the court already know all prevalent information needed to charge Sam. Stop and think about how absurd this is.

Now since the Keen courts have realized that Sam is being falsely held they made up a charge for him, Common law criminal contempt. Criminal contempt can only be charged by a judge in a court room. Sam was not in a court room, only in a public lobby. So that begs the question, if the judge can extend his powers outside the court room exactly where does his power stop? On top of that the court is asked Sam's lawyer if he is competent to stand trial. In Nazi Germany and in Russia the governments would declare defendants' incompetent to stand trial and send them to insane asylums without trial.

It is truly sad that in the freest country in the world we have public servants running a monopoly that resorts to using desperate tactics to force their will on this free man. If you have hope for this country please make a stand, copy this story to any message boards or blog you have, tell your friends, family or co-workers. You can also contact your local newspaper, T.V. or radio station.

www.freetalklive.com
www.freekeen.com
www.freestateproject.org

 

Update: Sam Dodson on Fox New's weekly online show Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN92YFfSc5U]YouTube - Part 5: 05/27/2009 Freedom Watch w/ Ron Paul, Tom Woods, Wayne Allyn Root, Schiff, Sam Dodson, more[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyfscmI1z04]YouTube - Part 6: 05/27/2009 Freedom Watch w/ Ron Paul, Tom Woods, Wayne Allyn Root, Schiff, Sam Dodson, more[/ame]

 

You really should not comment on topics you have not even attempted to inform your self on. The "Reporter dude" is not a reporter, he is a documintarian. He was not looking for a story, he was exercising his right to press at a friends trial. Yes the economy is still shit and it is not going to get any better as long as the Fed is controlling our money supply.

Check out Free Talk Live : 100% Pro-Liberty Talk Radio you will surely find more controversial topics there.

You obviously don't know your rights and as stated above you should read the story.

 

If some one slapped a sign in the court lobby that said "No Sneezing" should we be forced to obey it? There is no law against recording in a court lobby, there for the sign saying is illegal. That is why it is not a law or an order. The only other option would have been to file a motion to be allowed to record in the lobby, if you have to beg for permission to exercise a right, then it is not a right.

Our federal government is becoming a centralized socialist government and the only way to stop it and change the way things are going is publicity. The burocrats aren't going to do anything about it because that means they would loose their jobs. Only the American people have the power to control our government, that is what our founding fathers intended. Instead our government is controlling us that is not the way it is supposed to be.

 

Sam was not recording in a court room, it was a public court lobby.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers"
Just because Sam isn't a reporter doesn't mean he should be denied freedom of press, press can be anyone, you, me, anyone.

The first sentence says: "The presiding judge should permit the media to photograph, record and broadcast all courtroom proceedings that are open to the public." It does not say permission must be asked in order to record, on top of that it specifically says court room. The entire New Hampshire stature only applies to recording in a court room, Sam was in the public lobby.

 

The law states that one must ask permission to record court proceedings, that starts when it is said that court is in session. Sam isn't being charged with recording in the courtroom, he is being charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct because he refused to abide to a non-existent order. It is not against the law to record in a lobby, if it was he would be charged with breaking that law. A trial doesn't take place in an entire building, it is held in a closed room. If they can say court room and mean court house then that means they can include the entire court property and since the court property is state owned then one can't even record the courthouse or even record people on state roads going to the court house.

Again, if you have to beg permission to exercise your rights, then you don't have that right, it becomes a permissible action.

 

That is a failure of American citizens allowing the Federal government to infringe on our rights, "Yes you can have guns but you are only allowed to have these types, carry them in these locations and only if you meet our conditions for a firearms license." It is no more dangerous for someone to carry a gun in a courthouse (all the officers have them) or in wal-mart.

 

Boston Globe article on Sam and the Free State Project: Antigovernment activists putting down roots in N.H. - The Boston Globe

 

I agree that there are laws for a reason, their reason isn't to break constitutional rights, invade a persons liberty or hinder economic progress. Please tell my why you wouldn't want a free country? I think you don't want a "true free country" because you don't know what it would be like, being that we don't live in a free country I can see why you are scared of something different. You really should listen to Free Talk Live : 100% Pro-Liberty Talk Radio, it will at least give you an idea to how we can get to a true free country then you can make the decision if you think we should continue living in this limited freedom state.

 

Update:
6/4: Sam was scheduled a trial without giving his name. Judge Burke decided he would procedde with Sam's trial even though he has been holding Sam without trial because he won't tell his name.

6/9: Sam is kicked out of jail wearing his orange jump suit and given his possessions. They wanted him to sign papers and when he requested his legal consul they escorted him outside without signing any papers.

Sam Dodson released from jail | blog of bile