http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…

Keith Hopkins attacked Winifred Phipps, grabbing her bag and dragging her across the ground until she had to let go.

Since then she has worred about leaving her home and has to walk a different way into town because she cannot bear to be reminded of that day.

But Judge Anthony Cleary said he had to “exercise a degree of mercy” when sentencing Hopkins because he had suffered a number of traumatic events while in prison on remand.

Instead of sending him to prison, he handed him a community sentence for two years.

Mrs Phipps, of Leamington, Warks., branded the sentence a joke and slammed the judge for being too soft.

She said: “I’m very disappointed with what’s happened here.

“There are people that have had a lot harder lives than him and not done the terrible things he has.

“I was very surprised to hear he’d got away with not getting a jail sentence.

“My nerves are completely shot to pieces after what’s happened.

“I couldn’t go anywhere by myself and often have to go to the doctors for my aches and pains.

“Because it happened near there I still can’t go there alone.

“My husband Frank always comes with me and we even have to take a different route to town because I can’t bear to be reminded of that day.”

Warwick Crown Court heard Hopkins, 27, had suffered psychological problems brought on by a number of factors including an attack by others while on remand.

He also suffered childhood abuse and was haunted by the death of a friend he stabbed during the drunken and drug-fuelled argument he was convicted of manslaughter for in 2003.

Judge Cleary said: “While on remand in prison something terrified you.

“No-one would want anyone to be subjected to such terror as was clear to me in that earlier occasion.

“I do not consider you to be wicked or evil.

“It is appropriate to exercise a degree of mercy in your case.”

In a resititution based system this guy likely wouldn’t be held in prison. He would have paid off his debts to the family and friends of his victim and let go. Without further information it sounds as if it was likely prison that caused him to become a petty criminal. Prison and jail aren’t designed to reabilitate or even provide an enviroment for the criminal (or so called criminal) to pay off the debts for their crime. It’s a melting pot of some of the worst in society and they keep adding in more people, both true criminals and not, and acting as if things will get better for them. That they won’t be worse off, that we all won’t be worse off, when they get out.

Create a loser pays, restitution based system and get rid of the war on drugs and much of our criminal problems and court abuse would disappear.

Journalist Sam Dodson who was arrested nearly two months ago for filming inside the Keene District Court lobby was released on from jail today and is in the studio for his first post jail interview.

Read about Sam’s story at JailedActivist.info

He was just kicked out of the jail, with his orange jumpsuit on, without any real explanation, with all his possessions.

Porc411: msg0022.wav

Hello free staters! This is SamIam and the jail has just thrown me out. The forced me to agree to PR terms that I’m already in violation of, I told them I did not understand.  That I did not agree to them. I did not sign them. I requested my attorney who’s going to be here in 10 minutes. And they pushed me out the door, in the orange close. I guess I get to keep them. And gave me all my stuff. I was escorted out. They would not explain anything or put anything in writing. They were told just to release me and so I’m out of jail. Thank you guys for everybody who’s helped me, sent letters, cards, emails, done all the things you had to do to support me along the way and  I’m looking forward to getting back to life and challenging a lot of this in court. Thank you, glad to be out, looking forward to talking all soon. Goodbye.

Find the full story at JailedActivist.info

http://sentinelsource.com/…

Iused to say that a libertarian is just a Republican who wants to smoke pot and watch porn. That was before I attended a Bob Dylan concert in Laconia some years ago. Shortly after the concert began, a young woman two rows in front of me stood up. She continued to stand throughout the concert. Never mind that everyone around her was seated.

I asked the man sitting in front of me to ask the woman to kindly sit because she was blocking people’s views. She continued to stand. I asked an usher to ask her to sit. He spoke to her and walked away, the offending woman still standing. I called the usher over and he told me the woman said she will stand if she wants to because it is her right; there was nothing the usher could do about it.

Apparently this phenomenon is fairly common, because around that time it was lampooned on “Saturday Night Live.” At that concert, she was one of perhaps 10 scattered audience members standing. When I regularly attended concerts in the 1960s and ’70s the audience would either collectively stand or sit. That’s when I realized my original assessment of libertarians was wrong, since even the staunchest Republican I know would have the courtesy to sit down.

Libertarians say they espouse the rights of the individual, which always seemed to me to be just a political way of saying me first, second and third and the hell with everyone else.
Read More…

http://forum.freekeene.com/…

Turning Myself In

Hello all,

I have decided to not appeal my case and, therefore, I am going to turn myself in to the jail on the morning of June 2nd. I’m not sure at what time (if I do decide a time then I will update this thread accordingly), but I know that I will be in jail from the 2nd until, probably, the 11th ($420 fine divided by $50 equals 9.4 days in jail; or 9 days and roughly 10 hours).

Here is my current plan – please let me know of any criticisms or ideas you have, thanks:

* I will be walking to the Keene Police Station on the morning of June 2nd and turning myself in to the police to serve my sentence for the “crime” of marijuana possession. I would let them put a warrant out for my arrest and come get me, but I would rather not burden my friends with an unexpected police interaction. Thus, it is better if I just go to them.

* I will not be processing. I will show up at the jail but I won’t be allowing them to process me. If someone could, I would appreciate any details on what this “processing” process consists of so that I may be properly prepared. I do not wish to be caught off guard; nor do I wish to be abused physically in the event of my resistance. I’d like to know what the “easiest” way is to get them to give up on their “processing” and just throw me in a cell. I am not there to make the cops’ job difficult – I will let their conscious do that.

* From what I understand, as a result of my decision to not process, I will be put in to “solitary confinement” of sorts. Unfortunately, this means that I will not have the opportunity to interact with other prisoners who have been persecuted for victimless crimes, which is a goal all of us ought to have should we find ourselves in jail (and which is something Sam is apparently doing a great job at). However…

* … I also want to know what it is that Sam is going through right now, physically and psychologically. With that in mind I will be going on a hunger strike. It’s only 9 days but it is the least I can do for Sam. I doubt I’ll even make it that long without giving in and eating something, but I don’t feel like I can truly appreciate Sam’s sacrifice until I experience it myself. Since I am destined for jail eventually anyways (no court in this state is going to overturn marijuana laws at this moment of time), I might as well go now while Sam is there. Consider it a sign of moral support.

Therefore, I will serve my 9.4 days in jail and then be “free.” I don’t see any reason for them to keep me longer, even if I refuse to process. Once I’ve “paid off the fine” with the appropriate amount of days in jail than I will be released during the evening of the 11th.

Let us hope Sam is out before then.

In Liberty,
Andrew Carroll

When asked “Why no appeal?”:

I feel it pointless. I let the Judge have his trial and I did not try at all to drag the case on like I could have. I knew all of what I was saying was not legally admissible and would not fly in a court of their law; but legality is not the point – as you are well aware – morality is.

So, I figure, let’s get to the crux of it; let’s get past the legal games (since they serve us no purpose in this fight at this time) and put the immorality of it all at center stage; let’s watch as they throw another innocent man in jail…

“Is there a possibility of a jury trial if you appeal? Because if so, I would definitely see that as potentially advantageous, especially because of the possibility of nullification.”

The possibility might be there, though I believe my appeal would go to the NH Supreme Court and bypass any possible jury trial.

Not that it matters, however, because the primary point of the protest was to demonstrate the immorality of throwing someone in a cell for possessing marijuana. Anything else was just a secondary point to address if convenience allowed it.

So, as I said to Sam, let’s get on with the main course.

You can learn more about the situation leading up to this at http://andrew.jailedactivist.info

Keep watch at JailedActivist.info, blogofbile.com, and the blogofbile twitter account for updates as they become available.