I am intrigued by the video below. Clearly there is history here but the video appears to show a man named Ian Freeman being arrested and jailed for the failure to sit down fast enough — around six seconds too long.
Freeman’s supported have created a website called 93days.com and state the following:
Ian Freeman of Keene, NH rents a house to a tenant, who has a musty old couch on the property.
The city planner complained and a Keene City Code Enforcer ticketed Ian. Ian was willing to remove the couch, he only asked to face his accuser. Instead, a trial date was scheduled.
When Ian failed to sit down fast enough at “trial”, the “judge” sentenced him to 30 days for contempt of court, moved him to a back room, sentenced him for another 60 days and, finally, 3 days for refusing to pay the couch-related fine.
Freeman appears to be a talk show host and member of New Hampshire’s liberty movement. A clearly unhinged judge (identified on one site as Judge Burke) is shown screaming, “Have a seat. Have a seat” before having him arrested.
I would love to know if there is something more to this because on the surface, it looks pretty abusive conduct by the judge. The video leaves the impression that he is being cited for not sitting down fast enough as opposed to the camera that he references toward the end of the tape. It is unclear why the proceeding was moved or what conduct behind closed doors led to such a hefty penalty.
For the video, click here
Excessive ego in the legal profession once again rears it’s ugly head. Judge? This judge can’t control himself so what makes him qualified to sit in authority over others? Uh . .. NOTHING apparently.
What an abusive tool.
1983 Claim?
In the land of the free, I guess, honour is a one-way street.
Mike,
You hit the nail on the head. Sometmes free speech is messy. This judge should be sanctioned and forced to “sit” in a jail cell himself. This is a reaction that I expect from Texas not New Hampshire.
Saw the video. Being sentenced 93 days is way over the top. The Judge is no doubt enamored with his presumptive power. Even taking a worst case scenario’s Freeman’s actions do not rise to the level of such a sentence. That he has pissed people off in the past is obvious, but isn’t that just the messy fact of free speech,someone with that freedom will piss a lot of people off? We go back to Holmes (is that right?)”fire in the theater” formulation as to its’ limits. The unfortunate fact is that too often the definition of “shouting fire in a theater” may be stretched beyond reason.
I didn’t realize loosing a game of musical chairs incurred jail time.