Help Ward Bird of Moultonborough

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Gourmand

...to end this discussion. Just my opinion.....

I don't think a discussion and grass-roots suport campaign for an unjustly imprisoned person should be shut down simply because the thread has been invaded by a child.

The better course of action would be to remove the cancer before sacrificing the entire limb.

[Slickcraft]

From WMUR web site:
http://www.wmur.com/news/25877303/detail.html
Patten has submitted a House bill that would allow a property owner to display a firearm to a trespasser.

Protesters Call For Release Of Man Convicted Of Threatening

CONCORD, N.H. --
Ward Bird Rally
Kria Sakakeeny
Nearly 100 protesters gathered outside the state house in Concord on Monday morning to call for the release of Ward Bird, who was sentenced to prison for criminal threatening.

Bird turned 49 on Monday. He just started serving a mandatory sentence of three to six years in prison. Supporters called the sentence unjust, saying Bird was within his rights when he had a gun while confronting a woman who went past "no trespassing" signs onto his property.

Bird's wife, Virginia, was among the protesters on Monday, as was state Rep. Betsy Patten.

Patten is advocating for Bird's pardon from prison. Bird's wife said he has been mailed an application for a prison pardon. She said he was offered a plea deal for no prison time, but he refused because, she said, he was innocent.

[Resident 2B]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

From WMUR web site:
http://www.wmur.com/news/25877303/detail.html
Patten has submitted a House bill that would allow a property owner to display a firearm to a trespasser.

Finally, a bill from Rep Patten that I fully support. Thank you Rep. Patten for starting something that makes sense here!

Now, someone, somehow has to stop this foolishness and free a unjustly-convicted, family man. Rep. Patten, can you help here? What has happened is completely wrong!

I know the area and the no trespassing signs are very clear. No way she should have been on his property, especially after being warned about it. No way anyone should be looking into the windows of a house when they do not know the owner. Plenty of justification for Ward's reaction in my mind. He has a right to protect his family and his property!

I really cannot believe this is happening in our country.

R2B

[NoBozo]

I am not going to reread 77 posts. If I have misconstrued...PLEASE correct me. I am ON Wards SIDE. HE got screwed. I think I read that Ward had recently had a Abdominal Aneurysm Operation just prior to this altercation and was in pain (many stitches) when the women in question arrived.

I also seem to remember Ward had his pistol in a holtser..and removed the pistol to check the safety at some point. Holster belt around his waist...??

I have had that same operation THREE times in ONE year. The doctors and hospitals (3) were totally incompetant. The Fourth time was the CHARM..MASS GENERAL in Boston. They saved my life.

MY POINT relative to Ward. First..I have a very high threshold of pain it seems. I didn't require ANY seditives imediately after my operations or at any time afterward. I had no pain. I'm lucky.

However: When you have this operation...My incission was ~12 inches long from just below the breastbone to just above my pubic area...Zigging around my navel.

There is NO way someone in pain.. post OP would have a pistol belt with the weight of a pistol, around their waist over those stitches.. No Belts Whatsoever...not even to hold up your pants. I have worn suspenders ever since.

There must be somehing in the WARD story ..as told by others..that is not correct.....NB

[wuwu]

Originally Posted by NoBozo

I am not going to reread 77 posts. If I have misconstrued...PLEASE correct me. I am ON Wards SIDE. HE got screwed. I think I read that Ward had recently had a Abdominal Aneurysm Operation just prior to this altercation and was in pain (many stitches) when the women in question arrived.

I also seem to remember Ward had his pistol in a holtser..and removed the pistol to check the safety at some point. Holster belt around his waist...??

I have had that same operation THREE times in ONE year. The doctors and hospitals (3) were totally incompetant. The Fourth time was the CHARM..MASS GENERAL in Boston. They saved my life.

MY POINT relative to Ward. First..I have a very high threshold of pain it seems. I didn't require ANY seditives imediately after my operations or at any time afterward. I had no pain. I'm lucky.

However: When you have this operation...My incission was ~12 inches long from just below the breastbone to just above my pubic area...Zigging around my navel.

There is NO way someone in pain.. post OP would have a pistol belt with the weight of a pistol, around their waist over those stitches.. No Belts Whatsoever...not even to hold up your pants. I have worn suspenders ever since.

There must be somehing in the WARD story ..as told by others..that is not correct.....NB

it was a holster worn on the small of your back!

[Slickcraft]

In today's Citizen:

Article published Nov 23, 2010
Bird case prompts bill to change law regarding gun use
Moultonboro:

A state lawmaker has filed a bill to explicitly permit residents to ward off trespassers by exhibiting a firearm.

"We want to make it very clear to the courts that protecting our property is an absolute right," said state Rep. Betsey Patten, R-Moultonborough, who filed the bill at the Statehouse Monday while group outside the Capitol protested the imprisonment of a Moultonborough resident for criminal threatening for brandishing a firearm when a woman trespassed on his property.

Patten acknowledged that if the bill were to become law it would not help Ward Bird who is serving a three- to six-year sentenced in State Prison.

In an nine-page opinion authored by Associate Justice Gary Hicks the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld Ward's conviction late last month ruling that, "a rational juror could have found that the defendant's belief that it was necessary to wave his pistol to terminate (the victim's) trespass was not objectively reasonable."

"Considering the evidence and all inference to be drawn from it in the light most favorable to the state, a rational juror readily could have found that the defendant's actions of waving and pointed a gun toward the victim, while yelling "get the f¿ of my property," constituted felony criminal threatening," the Supreme Court ruled.

Bird's supporters claim he never leveled the gun at the woman, but rather took it out of back holster and checked it to assure the safety was on.

Patten said Rep. Leo Pepino of Manchester was the prime sponsor of House Bill 160 that was approved last year and becomes law in January 2011. That law relative to physical force in defense of a person reads, "A person who responds to a threat considered by a reasonable person as likely to cause serious bodily injury or death to the person or another by displaying a firearm or other means of self-defense with the intent to warn away the person making the threat shall not have committed a criminal act."

Patten said her proposed legislation mirrors Pepino's, yet specifies defense of private property instead of a person.

Meanwhile, Patten said, she has obtained the necessary paperwork for Bird to apply for a pardon from Gov. John Lynch and the Executive Council. A pardon request requires an investigation by the Department of Justice and solicits recommendations from the prosecutor, the trial judge and the alleged victim among others.

Even if pardoned, Bird's guilty conviction would still stand, but he would be able to walk free.

On Monday morning Patten drove Bird's daughter, Aberdeen and a fellow Moultonborough Academy student Matt Tolman to Concord when she filed the legislation. The pair received excused absences from school to participate in a civics lesson, Patten explained. She said in talking with Academy Principal Andy Coppinger she has learned that many students are interested in the outcome of the Bird case and said because they feel they have a "vested interest" she hopes the process will be a learning one for the communities youngsters. Bird is the father of four children.

About two dozen of Bird's supporters gathered outside the State House on Monday to protest his imprisonment while Patten went inside to file her legislative service request.