NH indictment laws are terribly outdated, unfair, unethical and lack transparency: Letters

NH indictment laws are terribly outdated, unfair, unethical and lack transparency

March 31 — To the Editor:

Donald Trump’s indictment is a failure of the indictment system that New Hampshire also suffers from. After practicing law for over 15 years, I know how screwed up the laws in New Hampshire are.

My name is Rich Clark. In 2022, I ran for the Rockingham County attorney position as a Democrat. My number one priority and campaign position was trying to educate Granite Staters that New Hampshire’s indictment process was centuries outdated, lacked transparency, accountability, and allowed unethical county attorneys to prosecute the innocent. Imagine if a New Hampshire District Court determined probable cause was insufficient to issue an arrest warrant, then a New Hampshire county attorney can turn around and sign an indictment for the same thing. Our Rockingham County Attorney Pat Conway will sign an indictment when a District Court judge refuses to issue an arrest warrant. Conway’s actions injure the innocent, that we allow by our outdated laws. Is this corruption, archaic laws, unfairness, or lack of transparency? In New Hampshire, county attorneys can knowingly hide material facts hurting their case from the grand jury that could cause an indictment to not be issued.

New Hampshire county attorneys have no requirement to provide the grand jury exculpatory information — information that helps the person being accused of a crime. In New Hampshire, if an arrest warrant is denied, a law enforcement officer often goes to the next justice of the peace until it’s issued with no requirement to notice the next justice of the peace it’s before them because it was denied earlier.

In February 2023, Joshua Yokela sponsored our bill we worked on requiring exculpatory evidence to be presented to grand jurors.

New Hampshire indictment laws are terribly outdated, unfair, unethical and lack transparency. It will only stop when people act for indictment reform by contacting Gov. Chris Sununu, state reps and senators.

Rich Clark, Esquire

Portsmouth

I respect the courage and resilience transgender and gender non-conforming people

March 31 — To the Editor:

I value and honor people who identify as transgender and non-gender conforming because they are indispensable to our health as a community.

As a cisgender male, I appreciate how they bring attention to the concept of gender and by doing so encourage us to question our assumptions and biases. The transgender and non-binary community breathes new life into our understanding of gender, showing through their own paths that it is possible to loosen the straitjacketed gender roles that we are taught and that are forced upon us.

I respect their courage and resilience in the face of the hostility, violence, and discrimination against them that currently engulfs our country. They are the most vulnerable targets among us, yet their integrity in standing up for themselves and each other models what self-respect looks like.

Transgender and gender non-conforming people have been with us for centuries. A North American native culture honored them as two-spirit people, and gave them a place of honor in the tribe. A 2016 UCLA study estimated that there are over 700,000 transgender people in the United States, with about 4,500 in New Hampshire. They are our community members, our family, friends, and neighbors and we are the better for it.

Chuck Rhoades 

Dover

What is the purpose of a public library?

April 2 — To the Editor:

When working to apply for a building permit in Kittery, Maine, on my house I realized that the required building codes, such as the 2015 IRC, are not available at the public library. In my opinion there is no more fundamental of a responsibility for a public library than to be a source for documents required by the town for its residents to conduct town business.

I reached out to the Rice Public Library and was told that having copies of building codes would be expensive to buy and maintain. I was also told that users of the codes are responsible for sourcing them, implying that it wasn't the library's responsibility to do so as a result. This got me thinking, what is the purpose of a public library?

Is the purpose of a public library only to limit itself to affordable books that are ostensibly not the responsibility of anyone else to purchase? What would that even mean for a public library? Choosing cheap best sellers off the New York Times list that serve no practical purpose beyond fashionable trends? That's ludicrous. Also, why is expense suddenly an issue? Rice Public Library lobbied the community for millions in upgrades a few years ago, but now frugality is important?

I believe that being a resource for information that is required by the town in order for residents to engage in town business should be a fundamental purpose of a public library. This is particularly true where financial barriers make affording that information impractical for individual residents. Consideration should also be paid where learning disabilities preclude the use of digital copies, making physical copies a matter of reasonable accommodation.

Joshua Cormier

Kittery, Maine

We need to fortify our schools, not take away guns

April 2 — To the Editor:

Contrary to what the author of the recent opinion (“Frustrated with ceaseless gun violence? Vote for change.”) published in Foster’s Daily Democrat implied, the recent school shooting in Nashville was not carried out by means of an automatic assault rifle (aka a machine gun). Owning those types of firearms and other destructive devices were made illegal by the National Firearms Act of 1986. Section 922(0), Title 18, U.S.C., makes it unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machine gun except under certain circumstances heavily regulated by the government. In fact, handguns were used in the vast majority of mass shootings in the U.S. from 1982-2023.

The author’s claim that guns are the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. is also a bit dubious when considering how the data can be parsed. However, what is certain is the number of mass shootings at soft targets continue to grow. That should concern everyone, but pointing fingers seems to be sucking all the air out of the room instead. Blaming Republicans for these attacks and accusing them of not caring about children doesn’t seem like a good pathway to a solution. The debate about guns and gun control doesn’t appear to be one that will end anytime soon, so in the meantime I believe it’s more prudent to discuss how we defend our children at these soft targets and at a minimum mitigate the carnage.

After Sandy Hook, I didn’t believe it was necessary to consider fortifying our schools. I believed there were other security measures readily available that would deter attacks and reduce the harm in those instances someone decided they were going to go on a rampage regardless of the deterrence measures. I’ve done a complete 180 on that thinking and now feel certain we must fortify our schools to make it so difficult even people with mental illnesses will give pause before going after children.

If we have $196 billion to give to Ukraine to help secure their people against Russia, I’m sure we have enough money to address protecting our own children attending school here in America. And, if we are willing to expose our children to all sorts of questionable things these days, I think helping to protect them and letting them know there are bad people in this world who would kill or harm them shouldn’t be a problem.

The Nashville shooter purchased her weapons lawfully, even a so-called red flag law would have still left an opening for her to commit the heinous act. Banning assault rifles and all the other proposed solutions by the author of the opinion aren’t really serious proposals aimed at curbing school shootings. They are attempts to take law-abiding citizens' right to self defense away from them. If we are serious about protecting our children then stop the political posturing, stop sending money to other countries before taking care of our own and let’s keep our kids safe!

Fred Leonard

Rochester

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH indictment laws are outdated, unfair and lack transparency: Letters