seacoast peace response, events

Portsmouth NH 11/4/02 Arraignment of the Newington Five

Approximately 40-45 people gathered in Market Square, Portsmouth this morning at 8AM for a march to the courthouse about four blocks away. The gathering and march were in support of the Newington Five, five peace activists who were arrested at U.S. Senator Judd Gregg's office on October 24th for refusing to leave. The activists decided that Sen. Gregg's response to 12 questions requesting reasons for his support of president Bush's resolution for a military solution regarding Iraq were insufficient. They decided to stay after the office closed and were arrested for criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor.
The five included Tom Jackson, Rob Wolff, David Diamond, Macy Morse, and Amy Antonucci.
At the arraignment, the five each pleaded not guilty and several entered additional pleas. Wolff pleaded for the children of Iraq, and Morse pleaded for peace and dignity which the complaint, in part, said they had violated.
As each name was called and the defendant stood, all of the supporters in the courtroom, most dressed in black, stood as well.
Their trials were all set for April 9, 2003.

Submitted by Paul Pat Morse

Newington Five appealing convictions to NH Supreme Court

For further information contact:
David Diamond 603-749-9159
Tom Jackson 603-781-8623
Macy Morse 603-433-4119
Amy Antonucci 603-750-7506
Rob Wolff 603-740-5091

The "Newington Five," Macy Morse, of Portsmouth, Amy Antonucci, of Madbury, David Diamond, of Dover, Tom Jackson, of Dover, and Rob Wolff, of Dover, are appealing their convictions for their sit-in at the office of Senator Judd Gregg last October to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. They will be delivering their Notice of Appeal to the clerk of court at the Supreme Court in Concord at 11 a.m. on Monday, June 23rd.

On October 8, 2002, the group delivered a list of fifteen questions about that war to Senator Gregg’s Newington office, where they were faxed to him in Washington just before the Senate was to vote on the Iraq War Resolution. One of the questions was about evidence why Iraq was seen as more dangerous than it was five years ago. Gregg faxed a message back to the group, in which he asserted that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, biological, chemical, and nuclear, and posed a significant threat. Senator Gregg did not give any evidence for Iraq’s possessing weapons of mass destruction, nor did he answer the other questions posed by the group, so they remained in his Newington office past closing time and were arrested.

All members of the group were charged with "criminal trespass" and were tried in Portsmouth District Court on April 9th. They argued, based on Article 8 of the Bill of Rights of the New Hampshire Constitution, which holds magistrates and officers of government to be "open, accessible, accountable, and responsive" to the people, that they had a right to be remain in the senator’s office to hold him accountable for his actions in his vote on the Iraq war.

Their argument was further based on Article 10 of the Bill of Rights of the New Hampshire Constitution, which states that the people ought to resist "against arbitrary power." They also based their argument on the "competing harms" provision of New Hampshire law, in which an action necessary to avoid harm to oneself or another is justified "if the desirability and urgency of avoiding such harm outweighs… the harm sought to be prevented by the statue defining the offense charged."

During the group’s original trial on April 9th, Judge Sharon DeVries dismissed arguments based on constitutional principles and sought to restrict arguments to whether or not the group had stayed in the senator’s office after closing hours. All members of the group were found guilty and fined $360 (with an additional $900 suspended based on their not engaging in similar behavior for two years). One member of the group, Macy Morse, age 82, refused to pay the fine and was jailed for eighteen days.

This appeal takes on particular significance given the current national controversy about weapons of mass destruction not having been found in Iraq after the Bush administration had used the supposed existence of those weapons as the main justification for that war.

As one member of the group, David Diamond, stated in a recent letter to the editor to Foster’s Daily Democrat: "It is clear now that the Bush administration lied to the American public and to the world about the original justification for this war, which was about the infamous but nonexistent weapons of mass destruction and supposed Iraqi terrorist links."

As stated by Amy Antonucci, another Newington Five member, "Government officials, including senators, ought to be held accountable for unsubstantiated claims which led to a war, in which thousands of innocent civilians as well as hundreds of American troops were killed. If they are not accountable in a case as extreme as this, then the provision of the New Hampshire Constitution holding government officials accountable to the people has no meaning."

END

Article about the Newington 5 that appeared in The Portsmouth Herald 8/27/03

Newington Five seeks support from the public
By Nancy Cicco ncicco@seacoastonline.com

NEWINGTON - Turned aside by the state Supreme Court, peace protesters known as the Newington Five are taking their cause directly to the people.
On Aug. 4, the court declined to consider overturning group members’ April convictions after they were found guilty in Portsmouth District Court of criminal trespassing charges.
Now, group members Amy Antonucci of Madbury, Macy Morse of Portsmouth, and David Diamond, Tom Jackson and Rob Wolff, all of Dover, want the public to mount a letter-writing campaign to clear their names. "They can certainly contact legislators and write op-eds," said Wolff, urging the public to take up the protesters’ cause. "(Governor) Benson could pardon us .. that’s something we’ve discussed."
The protesters’ convictions stem from an October 2002 incident when police arrested the Newington Five, of Seacoast Peace Response, for remaining in the Newington office of U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., past the 5 p.m. closing time. Group members say they took that action in an effort to gain answers from Gregg regarding his position on the then-impending war with Iraq. From Gregg’s Newington office, the group allegedly faxed a list of 15 questions to the senator about the then-imminent war. At that time, Gregg was at the U.S. Senate, where he was participating in a debate on the Iraq War Resolution. Gregg reportedly faxed a message back to the group that asserted Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, according to a statements issued by the Newington Five this summer. The protesters allege Gregg gave no evidence to support that claim, nor did he answer the questions posed to him. In an effort to press Gregg on the issue, the protesters refused to leave his office after closing time, and were subsequently arrested. On Tuesday, a spokesman for Gregg declined to discuss the case’s latest turn of events. "We don’t have a comment," said Erin Rath, a press secretary for the senator.
During their April trial before Portsmouth District Court Judge Sharon DeVries, the protesters claimed they had the right to stay in Gregg’s officer under two tenets of the New Hampshire Constitution’s Bill of Rights and another provision of state law. The Bill of Rights allow that government "should be open accessible, accountable and responsive," and that the people have the right to protest against government’s "arbitrary power." Lastly, the protesters say they had the right to remain in Gregg’s office because state law allows people to engage in illegal conduct they believe is necessary to avoid harm to themselves or others, if it’s reasonable to assume that participation outweighs the harm inflicted by that illegal behavior. DeVries refused to hear the defendants’ arguments, Wolff said on Tuesday.
One of the protesters, Morse, 82, spent 18 days in jail after she refused to pay her $360 fine in the case. DeVries slapped each of the defendants with the fine, with another $900 suspended, on the proviso none of them engage in similar behavior for the next two years. Morse says it’s all been worth it. "I just feel like we need to let people know their civil rights are being eroded," she said. "The larger issue is we expected our representatives to be responsive," Wolff said. "I think it’s important to name names - Judge DeVries let us down, Judd Gregg let us down. ... They have the blood of innocents on their hands."

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