On October 13th, Governor Sununu and his Executive Council were voting on whether to accept 27 million dollars from the federal government. The money came with strings attached that would enforce quarantines and other Covid precautions.
Terese and other freedom fighters went to the meeting to silently protest the federal money. While sitting peacefully in the audience, not saying a word, 9 individuals were unlawfully arrested without any explanation.
What happened specifically?
- At the arrest, the Council and Governor were speaking, but the audience (including Terese and the others in the Noble 9) were silent.
- Then, out of nowhere, the State Police escort Terese and Frank Staple out of the room, bringing them behind a curtain.
- A few minutes later, there were shouts from behind the curtain. Both Frank and Terese were questioning their arrest.
- Next, the State Police were arresting more and more people sitting in the audience. Again, none of them were doing a thing.
- Afterwards they were all informed that they were arrested for disorderly conduct.
I encourage you to watch the video (https://youtu.be/jpgGHQTcfgg ) from their arrest and write a summary for yourself at the end of this post.
Terese Grinnell – Arrested for saying “Amen”
Terese’s warrant for her arrest actually stated that she had uttered, “Amen.” This violates her 1st Amendment rights to the freedom of:
- speech (She is allowed to say anything she wants if it doesn’t defame or slander another person.)
- religion (She can say things that refer to religion.)
- assembly (She had the right to be at the Executive Council meeting.)
- petition (She has the right to tell the government when they are making a mistake.)
Watch Frank Staple (One of the Noble 9) Talk about the Arrest
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tjtXKCmpxog%3Ffeature%
5 Hearings on the Arrest
Terese and the other members of the Noble 9 have been asked to go before a judge five times over the past year.
I, myself, went to the fifth hearing of the arrest. At that hearing, the judge watched the video of the arrest and didn’t know what to say. Yet, their request to dismiss the case was denied, and the case was pushed to trial.
Disqualifying the State Attorneys
The case was set to go to trial, but it was postponed because it came to light that the state attorney was working for the Department of Safety, rather than the State Attorney’s office. So, the attorney that represents the Noble 9 field to disqualify the state attorneys.
Read the post on disqualifying the state attorneys.
Change of Judges
In the video that I linked, Frank Staple points out that following the 5th hearing, the judge, Judge McIntyre who presided over the first five hearings recused herself from trying the case. It appears that watching the video evidence and pushing the case to trial was too much for her.
Conclusion – Join the fight – Terese and the Noble 9
There is no reason anyone should be arrested while sitting peacefully. There is no reason a judge should see nothing in a video and push it to trial. Furthermore, there is no reason the state would fight this case with an attorney from the wrong department.
We must keep our government accountable for their actions.
Join the fight and stand with Terese and the Noble 9.
