NH AG won't prosecute anti-vax mandate protesters who disrupted Sept. Executive Council meeting
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Jun. 8—Attorney General John Formella on Tuesday said his office would not be able to successfully prosecute protesters whose jeers and behavior caused the cancellation of an Executive Council meeting last September at Saint Anselm College.
A few hundred protesters, objecting to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and related issues, shut down the Sept. 29 meeting. They jeered Gov. Chris Sununu and the five Executive Councilors during a preliminary breakfast meeting.
As the crowd of protesters and police presence grew, state officials departed, prompting the council to eventually cancel the meeting.
A key issue that was to have been discussed at the meeting was whether the state would accept a $27 million federal grant to assist with immunization.
Formella launched a criminal investigation, which included his Public Integrity Unit and New Hampshire State Police.
In a statement, Formella said he had enough evidence to bring charges, but he couldn't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Those individuals would have certain constitutional and statutory defenses available to them at trial, and based on these defenses, and other evidentiary issues, the State would be unable to sustain its burden of proof," a statement reads.
A few hundred vaccination opponents showed up at the Executive Council meeting, at one point shouting, "We know where you live" and other taunts.
The shutdown stunned Sununu and the councilors, who ordered a heavy police presence at the next meeting, on Oct. 13.
Nine people were arrested after a loud disruption of that meeting.
On Tuesday, one of those arrested said Formella's decision should have an impact on her case.
"If they found no wrongdoing there, then how in the world is there any danger with me sitting silently in my chair?" said Terese Grinnell, a nurse who is one of the so-called New Hampshire Nine.
Grinnell said her legal team has filed a motion to dismiss, which is scheduled to be heard July 20 in Concord District Court. State police are handling the prosecution in her case, she said.
Timothy Sullivan, the head of Formella's Public Integrity Unit, would not answer a question about the New Hampshire Nine prosecution or whether he has discussed the decision with prosecutors handling that case.
"We took the time necessary to conduct a full and complete review of the incident," Sullivan said about the length of the investigation into the Saint Anselm meeting.
According to the statement issued by Formella, prosecutors and state police interviewed witnesses and reviewed video surveillance in connection to the Saint Anselm College meeting.
They said enough evidence was gathered to bring charges of obstructing government administration and disorderly conduct.
