Canton Coverup Part 388: Clerk Finds No Probable Cause Against Canton 9 For Witness Intimidation 9 Months After Canton Police Charged Them For Peacefully Protesting Within Eyesight Of Chris Albert

 

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On November 5, Nine peaceful protesters assembled on Washington Street, the busiest street in Canton, to peacefully protest injustice in the Karen Read and Turtleboy prosecutions.

However, because they were within “eyesight” of convicted killer Chris Albert, Chief Helena Rafferty ordered the so-called Canton 9 to immediately end their demonstration or risk being charged with felony witness intimidation. It’s notable that none of the responding officers could explain how any of the protesters were actually in violation of the statute, which they read out loud.

 

Nevertheless, a couple weeks later the Canton 9 were served with a summons to appear in Stoughton District Court for a probable cause hearing in front of a clerk magistrate, who would decide if they would be charged with felony witness intimidation, and picketing of a witness – the same two crimes I was charged with weeks prior.

On January 4 the alleged intimidators went in front of a clerk magistrate and were represented by counsel. Attorney Bill Gens told me he was itching to attack this statute for years and finally found a case to do it with. His arguments successfully won the day.  I was incarcerated at the time so I couldn’t show up to show my support for the hearings.

Normally a clerk makes a decision on whether or not charges will be pressed within 24 hours. Rarely do they not find probable cause, since the bar is pretty low and the people bringing the charges forward are police officers who should know the law better than most. However, seven months went by without word of a ruling. Finally today the Canton 9 all received notice in the mail that the criminal complaint was denied because no probable cause was found.

Over 7 months later, we’ve confirmed what we all suspected; holding a sign outside a mediocre pizza shop is NOT a crime.

As stressful as the last 9 months have been, I’m grateful. Grateful for the friends I’ve made (especially @DeannaCorby who was a stranger last year and now… https://t.co/q5zh1t3iQ9 pic.twitter.com/EkZqVmcuPB

— Meredith O (@meredithoneil) August 12, 2024

This is a good thing and bad thing.

It’s a good thing because it’s a victory for the First Amendment. It would’ve been an outrageous violation of civil liberties to criminalize the most American thing people can do – take to the public square and voice their opinions for the world to see. The First Amendment has been under relentless attack in Norfolk County, and the witness intimidation statute has been the weapon of choice for the Commonwealth to lay wreckage to the United States Constitution. So it’s nice to see the tyrants have their power checked.

But it’s also a bad thing because for the last 7 months citizens of Massachusetts have experienced a chilling effect that has made them afraid to hold protests like this in front of Chris Albert’s mediocre pizza shop. There is no reason the decision should’ve taken this long. Clerk Magistrate Lauren Greene must’ve reached her decision a long time ago, but the Norfolk County DA’s Office hid this information because they knew it would encourage more peaceful protesting. But now the message has been sent loud and clear – anyone can protest outside Chris Albert’s pizza shop about his family’s involvement in the murder of John O’Keefe.

The individual who reported the alleged witness intimidation was none other than Ken Mello, the special prosecutor appointed by the Norfolk DA’s Office to charge me with witness intimidation for holding similar protests, and inspiring protest like the November 5 protest. This made Mello a witness in their case, which would’ve made it impossible for him to be the prosecutor. The 911 call shows that when police initially told Mello their hesitation to charge 9 random people with felonies for standing on a public street he refused to take no for an answer. Instead he called them back and urged the police to read the witness intimidation statute carefully, and urged them to turn these nine people with no criminal records into felons.

“I think it’s good enough to charge them. That’s my take on it. They meet every single requirement of the statute.”

“They’re certainly there for the purposes of influencing, or whatever the statute states.”

Well, I guess it’s clearly NOT enough to charge them. That’s what happens when you get your legal advice from a guy whose website spells “office” with 3 F’s. The fact that this idiotic tyrant and his little bitch buddy Chris Albert got smacked down like this was extremely satisfying. The fact that Helena Rafferty was sent the message today that you are ALLOWED to protest near anyone you want to in Canton, was a great victory for democracy.

The McAlberts have never been victims, as much as they try to be. Perhaps the court felt compelled to finally announce they wouldn’t be charging these fine people after the CF McCarthy’s incident on June 23, or the more recent incident where Chris Albert came outside smiling and taking pictures of some woman in a wheelchair who Jim Farris parked in.

The McAlberts aren’t victims, they are criminals and bullies who aren’t used to people pushing back on them. They felt emboldened after I was charged, but clearly the tides are turning against them.

I’m not saying I’ll be protesting in front of D&E Pizza tomorrow, but the precedent has been established loud and clear – if you want to protest there you can. Of course the police told me that already when Chris Albert called the cops on me twice for holding signs outside of his place of “business.”

Here is another video of Canton Police responding to D&E Pizza over my peaceful protest. Officer Zepf makes it clear that my actions are "fine" before going on his way. If what I was doing was felony witness intimidation then why did police allow me to keep doing it? pic.twitter.com/pxJNZCP8h8

— Aidan Kearney (@DoctorTurtleboy) November 14, 2023

But that was before they charged me with witness intimidation, their favorite toy used to bludgeon free American citizens into silence. Now it’s pretty established that their toy is being taken away from them, and Chris Albert should probably get used to people exercising their First Amendment rights anywhere, anytime they please.