by Garret Ean
Nov 19 2011

Yesterday, the state’s theatrical performance so titled “State versus Garret Ean” was rendered in court room #201 of Manchester district court. On my part, it was a much prepared for event and a relief to have behind me. The trial ended with one individual taking the witness stand against me (John Patti) and one in my defense (Pete Eyre).

The judge made no ruling at the moment, taking the case “under advisement” and assigning both myself and the prosecutor, Gregory Muller, to submit legal memos backing up the points we made in court. I’m told not to expect a ruling until possibly next year. I have confidence in what the outcome will be.

Now that official proceedings are over, I have the opportunity to lay out the more detailed and definitive record of the events of that day than anything I would have been permitted to submit in court. Though I feel I was still able to introduce adequate doubt into the state’s case, so much of the record I was able to present was limited. As will be seen in the trial video, the judge dismissed as irrelevant all interactions I had with John Patti prior to the period within a “reasonable time frame” before the arrest.

Though I was able to play my videos in court and ask witnesses questions about them, I didn’t do the special lawyerly evidence submission, so the judge doesn’t officially get to view them at his leisure (I don’t recall where he was looking as I played them in court). The videos have been on youtube since the days following the demonstration, and are a more reliable public record for reconstructing the scene than any of the level of perspective one could receive judging solely from the frame of reference of the court. So coming soon will be full trial footage, as well as my retrospective analysis of the legal game.

In the meantime, the budding media crew in Manchester put together some of their own coverage of the case. Here’s Sovereign Curtis’ write-up from the courtroom pews:

http://freemanch.com/judge-assigns-homework-to-both-parties-in-chalking-case/

The next Chalking 8 trial will be Ademo Freeman’s case on Monday November 21 at 1:15pm.

Nov 20 2011: The full trial video is now available courtesy of Free Keene. An edited version will appear shortly.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UPSTG8Di-Qo

On December 27, William Lyons ruled that I was not guilty of either charge brought against me by the State.