By Kat Kanning

Sam Dodson

Freestater Sam Dodson entered the Keene District Court lobby on Monday with the intent of filming the supposedly public arraignment of Dave Ridley, another Freestater. Dave was arrested last month for attempting to film the arraignment of Freestater Andrew Carroll, arrested earlier this year for an act of civil disobedience aimed at tyrannical drug laws. Dodson entered the court lobby Monday afternoon, filming for his YouTube channel, The Obscured Truth Network (http://youtube.com/obscuredtruth). Court security officers told Sam to stop filming and pointed to court rules taped to the wall. When Dodson stated that the rules they pointed to were no more than a piece of paper stuck to the wall, and were not a legal signed court order, court security officers remained unimpressed and insisted that Dodson turn the camera off. Dodson refused and two Keene
Police prosecutors stepped forward to arrest him. So far, Sam has refused to cooperate in his own imprisonment. He had to be carried from the court lobby into a nearby hallway. Keene Police grabbed carried him by his arms while he was handcuffed behind his back, causing him to scream out in pain.

The group of 20 or so Freestaters still in the courtroom lobby, concerned for the welfare of their friend, began asking why court proceedings and arrests needed to be kept from public scrutiny. One court security officer let Kurt Hoffman into the back hallway to check on Sam's welfare, but Keene Police slammed the door shut so that Hoffman could not see what was happening to Sam to cause his repeated screaming. While trying to determine if Dodson was harmed or not, Freestaters were told that they must leave the lobby or be arrested. Six were still present when police backup arrived and the room sealed off to prevent anyone from leaving. Two of those six, Nick Ryder and Richard Onley, received summonses for Disorderly Conduct and four, Patrick Shields, David Krouse, Tim Danforth, and Kurt Hoffman, were arrested when they refused to comply with showing police their identification. Those four were later released, also with court summonses for Disorderly Conduct. All six were either standing quietly or sitting in the court lobby at the time police backup arrived.

One of the four arrested, Patrick Shields of Keene, who also had to be carried from the courthouse, overheard officers complaining that they thought they had been called in to a violent riot and were surprised to find a couple of people just standing in a public lobby. Officers thought that Police Prosecutor Rivera had badly overreacted to the situation.

In an interview after their release, Shields and Krouse both expressed indignation that earlier in the court lobby, they were not allowed to check on the welfare of their friend and so refused to comply with officers. A Keene Sentinel reporter who also remained in the court lobby interviewing Shields was neither arrested nor given a summons.

Sam Dodson remains imprisoned for filming in the court lobby. He was still refusing to comply with his imprisonment and was not arraigned the next morning. He is currently being held at the Cheshire County Jail indefinitely. A dozen or so activists protested Dodson's imprisonment outside the Cheshire County Jail that evening. Another protest is planned for Sunday.

Patrick Shields

Richard Onley

Nick Ryder

David Krouse and Andrew Carroll

Dave Ridley