Before leaving for court Wednesday morning, I submitted a mockery of Attorney Celia Leonard and provided a link to a Simon and Garfunkel song that mentions her name. This time, the song I will share is a few years older. In fact, it’s older than me, and it’s called The Cheater.
I happen to like the song, and the vocalist, Walter Scott, and I have a special connection, or “nexus,” to use one of Judge Temple’s favorite words. We were both born in Missouri. Missouri calls itself the Show Me state, and isn’t court all about SHOWING the evidence? And considering the timeliness of the Red Sox opener, let’s discuss my mentioning of Alex Cora in my last article.
His scandal was all about being caught spying on the other team’s pitcher and catcher. I can’t yet prove that the Dream Team coached Celia on the witness stand, but some people deny that coincidences happen. Point out to such people that OJ Simpson died and tell Marylyn Todd to get him removed from the voter list before Governor Nuisance gets his vote, but let’s get back to the “Alex Cora thing.”
My own agenda item was to look for security cameras that are likely to cover the front sides of three lawyers, considering that Attorney Steadman was seated facing the jury box instead of the witness stand. I spotted a camera on the wall over the door that Judge Temple uses and made a note to find out how to get the desired raw footage. During lunch recess, I turned to Laurie Ortolano, the RTK guru, and expressed my objective. With unsurprisingly lots on her mind, I didn’t want to push too hard for her input. However, she said what to do and how I will, as Daniel Richardson would say, “be given the finger.” Note that Laurie has made this exact kind of RTK request for camera footage inside city hall, but Nashua does not have a monopoly on stalling such camera footage requests.
Remember the 10/13/21 executive council arrests? Of course, you do! Plenty of video was taken by WMUR, Chau Kelley, and lots of ordinary, untrained people, but the legal world’s gold standard seems to be raw footage. Attorney Gens, defense counsel to the arrest victims, requested such footage from the police academy’s security camera(s) and got stonewalled for almost the whole duration of his clients’ 20 months of tormenting lawfare. I want to at least get my request of Wednesday’s footage of Celia’s time on the stand on record, just in case it becomes useful for future litigation.
I asked Mr. Buckmire, the head of security, how to go about requesting it, and he disappeared into his office for a few minutes and returned with a Post-it note. I was expecting a website, email address, or paperwork to complete, but he gave me the 800 number that he said is answered by a real person with instructions to say “Courtroom 3” in my request. It’s been a long day, and it’s now outside business hours, but I plan to follow his directions.
I would also like to put in a good word for all of the security staff (that I’ve interacted with or observed) at Nashua Superior Court. They’re cordial, friendly, and helpful, above and beyond their duties. In fact, I first didn’t know Mr. Buckmire was the boss because he was helping Laurie Ortolano carry some of her voluminous discovery when I first met him. A class act and the polar opposite of Peter Hamilton and the 32 Clinton Street counterpart courthouse security in Concord. Just ask any of the NH9 defendants or their supporters in attendance for any of their court dates. If you want the unfiltered version, talk to Frank Staples to hear that they’re bootlicking tyrants.
If you were expecting a traditional report on how the case is going, I would finish by saying that three witnesses took the stand today, starting with New Market tax expert Mr. Cannon, who was very hostile, followed by Mr. Lannan, who looks like Rep Horrigan and was less hostile than Mr. Cannon, but still not friendly. The last witness was economic development Director Cummings, who looked at the clock countless times and will likely win the prize for being the most hostile witness when he finishes up tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is the last day, and Judge Temple refuses to allow any extra days, so we’re in for a marathon day. I would make a joke about the NH House and its known marathon days, but I don’t have to because the real marathon is Monday, isn’t it?
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Author: Julie Smith
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