Against Goliath

Paypal tookmoney from my Discover Card to give it to me in Cash

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Kent

Paypal charged my Discover Card $29.99 for a three dollar item and said it was “payment to Exact Design”. The money was returned to me in cash to my bank account two weeks later.

It took over two hours to figure it out. I spoke to Rix and Kevin. Then I spoke to a supervisor named Doug, and his supervisor named Gavin. It was over about 11:10 today.

I have copies of all the documents as they are today in case they attempt to change them now. They said I owed a balance due to a dispute with eBay so they just added the difference to a $3 charge to cover the balance. They did not tell me, they did not put a line item in, they never even said I had a dispute or a negative balance.

When the dispute was settled in my favor a couple weeks later they just put cash in my account. Still not line item, no explanation.

I would like to know if I can use this business practice as well. If someone gives me a credit card, can I just take their money and then return it in cash later when they ask for it? –Kent

Posted in Economics, Incompetence, News, Stupid Laws | Leave a comment

White People Win Again!

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Kent

Nothing more racially polarizing has happenend in the US since Rodney King. White People just point to our US Justice System, and reasonable people ask: But where is the justice?

White people want to know what is wrong with acquitting Zimmerman according to the law of the land, the rest of us are outraged that White People do not see the injustice. Regardless who Zimmerman or Martin are, what character they have, what the defense said, what the jury decided in the end a 17 year old kid is dead. That tragedy is the focus of reasonable people, but not the focus of White People. I mean, if you really don’t know what I mean, think that he was a 17 year old white kid in Sanford Florida. Can’t even do it, can you? If you don’t think the situation would be different if he were white you are only kidding yourself.

There was a very similar situation near Rochester NY in 2009.

http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top_stories/490926/jury-finds-roderick-scott-not-guilty/

The situation was so similar it is eerie except that no racism was involved.

Of course Black People are wrong too. Error comes in all colors. The most interesting reactions come from Hispanics who do not have such a savage history of slavery and opression of blacks. The Spanish rulers exploited the native and imported populations pretty equally. What interests me most is the respect all sides seem to have for the cause of the problem: The US Justice System. There is very little justice in the Justice System, and what little justice there is skews wildly against those you are likely to see outside on city streets, or on any streets or outside of a house in a gated community in Florida.

The inanity of the White People response includes the tweets and updates like “Fuck sensitivity, Zimmeraman Acquitted” and “Repeal Stand Your Ground – make the streets safe for muggers, thieves, and thugs of all persuasions” and my favorite “Of all the young black shooting victims in this country, you can name one because you’ve been trained like a circus seal to bark on command.” I also want to examine two points of view that come to mind: that Zimmerman was also a minority so racism can’t be involved, and second that the character of 17 year old Martin was the issue.

Let me mention the Hispanic response. The people of Hispanic America were under repressive colonial rule to an extent we in America do not understand well. And the repression was more shared, the poverty was and still is more widespread than in the US, and the indigenous communities were not treated much better than the imported blacks. The Spanish rulers lost more and more influence and just disappeared, mostly, without a fight. The opression continued under successive native governments who did not distiguish communities any more than the Spanish. The shared misery left people calling others names related to their shade of skin color without malice and generalizing racial traits like no American would dare to do in public. But their racism is toothless. A Latino might agree with an American about the laziness or criminality of Mexicans unless they themselve are Mexican. But then a Mexican might agree that Guatemalans indeed are lazy criminals. White People cannot fathom there is a difference of national image between two hispanics assuming they are a race, like black people, are a race. The obvious truth here is that we are all individuals and race is a misperception.

Posted in Incompetence, News, Stupid Laws | Leave a comment

I stopped by…

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Kent

In front of Oddo Printshop, the Torrington business that financed the attempted escape of mass murderer Brian Nichols according the Associated Press in 2008 is a hot dog stand. On that hot dog stand is a picture of me and an article by the Torrington Register Citizen which correctly states that I was arrested due to statements made by Lisa Meneguzzo who runs the Torrington business, the same Lisa Meneguzzo whose sanity was questioned by news analysts nationwide.

We all know intellectually that a newspaper article does not tell a complete story. In this case the newspaper made no pretense of trying. Not the Register Citizen nor the police nor anyone else (except the Waterbury Republican) ever asked me what happened, though they ran my picture and Lisa Meneguzzo’s version of events. For links to news stories, pictures of Lisa Meneguzzo and support for all I say visit my blog site www.againstgoliath.com

Many Torringtonians have no idea the colorful personalities we have in our little town. Generally people don’t know or care what is printed in the newspapers or plastered on hot dog stands. We don’t read who gets arrested, and if we happen to hear about something in the paper we almost certainly don’t read past the charges. And if someone’s name is cleared in a jury trial or by judge’s ruling those events won’t appear in the Register Citizen.

But the arrests are. And sometimes the police and the newspaper want to malign and shock the community and put in a picture of those arrested. But when a Torrington native tries to break a man out of prison then wins immunity from prosecution by testifying, for example, that she smuggled a telephone with naked pictures of herself into prison, as reported by WSBTV, that story escapes the Register Citizen. When the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that she bribed prison guards with money earned in her Torrington business and traveled to visit the rapist and murderer in prison at least seven times our local news is silent.

Newspapers can be laminated and displayed on hot dog stands in all their inaccuracy. I have all the documents and explanations of my actions on this web site and honestly don’t know what I could have done to avoid this situation. I don’t expect people to read all the details even though I find the situations here are extraordinary and handled very badly by the police and the Register Citizen newspaper. As Officer B. Johnson of the Torrington Police Department suggested, I should be the bigger man.

Brian Nichols killed a Judge, an FBI agent, a Sheriff Deputy, a court reporter and a bystander in his escape from his rape trial in Georgia. Lisa Meneguzzo must have decided that was a reason to befriend him and become his “girlfriend” which is what happened according to several news sources. But when television news sources were covering Meneguzzo’s testimony that she did not remember hours of phone conversations recorded by the FBI detailing the outside of the prison we heard nothing from our local news.

The police either have no coherent policy or they were consciously trying to punish me for being accused of wrongdoing by Lisa Meneguzzo, the cop killer’s girlfriend according to Fox News. Only a judge and jury care at all about the facts or the background, or the stupid situation. I believe Officer B. Johnson has no idea how his own department works in cases like mine. But if he does know he also is trying himself to be the bigger man hoping someday he will have his chance to change policy. I so hope this is what will happen.

In the mean time I need to decide if Torrington deserves to know more about what the Associated Press reported about our native daughter: “Nichols’ girlfriend, Lisa Meneguzzo, played a key role in the plot, coming up with cash, writing letters to Nichols and doing research for him”. Does Torrington benefit by knowing more about Oddo Printshop? Should we ask to hear the story of the soft side of mass murderer Brian Nichols from the woman who accused me? Does anyone benefit by any of this?

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Should I join a feud?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Kent

In front of Oddo Printshop, the Torrington CT business that financed the attempted escape of mass murderer Brian Nichols according the the Associated Press in 2008, is a hot dog stand. On that hot dog stand is a picture of me and an article by the Torrington Register Citizen which leaves unanswered more questions than it answers. We all know intellectually that a newpaper article does not tell the full story. The newspaper nor the police nor anyone else (exept the Waterbury Republican) ever asked me about the story. They just reported what Lisa Meneguzzo of Oddo Printshop alleges, that is the Lisa Meneguzzo whose sanity is questioned by news analysts nationwide.

http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/atlanta/nichols-penaltyphase1/24.html

Many of us have no idea the colorful personalities we have in Torrington. Generally people don’t know or care what is printed in the newspapers or plastered on hot dog stands. I have all the documents and explanations of my actions on this web site and honestly don’t know what I could have done to avoid this situation. I don’t expect people to read all the details even though I find the situations here are extraordinary and handled very badly by the police and the newspaper. As Officer B. Johnson of the Torrington Police Department suggested, I should be the bigger man.

The police either have no coherent policy or they are consciously trying to punish me for being reported by Lisa Meneguzzo who is the cop killer’s girlfriend according to Fox News in 2008. Only a judge and jury care at all about the facts or the background, or the stupid situation. I bleieve the officer has no idea how his own department works. But if he does know he also is trying himself to be the bigger man hoping someday he will have his chance to change policy.

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It’s over!

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Kent

So I arrived on time with 17″ laptop and speakers, ready to show the video, put all the papers in order, and the jury was all there. We got word that yet another judge, Judge Gill, wanted a pre-trial hearing. All rise. So here he says he is the senior judge for the area, having been here for over 30 years. And he asked the prosecutor about about other pre-trials: none. Any deals been discussed: none. I said no one even took my statement. He said he had read the file, and he knew that.

He directly asked the prosecutor if she could offer any deals. She said she offered AR and I had turned it down. He asked me if I knew was AR was. I said yes, that accelerated rehabilitation was an admission of guilt, only eligible if I pay $100 for a criminal background check, and if I jump through hoops in one year my file is expunged. The judge responded “no, no and no.” He said there is no admission of guilt, he can waive all fees, and all I have to do is check in once with probation and never appear again so long as I don’t get charged with a crime in the next three month.

I responded that if there was no admission of guilt, and no criminal record I would be interested. He directed the Marshall to get the form, and we took a five minute recess. The form was very simple, there was no admission of guilt, I only had to say I was not guilty of a long list of felonies and hate crimes. Number 8 was about fees. I waited for the Judge to ask how to fill out the part about fees, and the Prosecutor went to get “the victim” Lisa Meneguzzo.

Lisa sat in the back of the court, all rise, I told the Judge I was not indigent so I could not fill out number 8. He said to leave it blank, and Isigned the form, and the marshall brought it to him. He examined it, and asked if the “alleged victim” had anything to say. Lisa talked about how traumatized she was by being locked in my shop, and how her mother also was traumatized being on the phone (I don’t know if Lisa even knows there was a surveillance tape).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvGuXYlmF1c (from 17:35 to 17:46 she is there)

The judge listened patiently, and asked her to go back to her seat. He said that in his 30 years he has also been traumatized, and that going through a trial will not help with such trauma. In fact, it will probably make it worse. He suggested seeing a therapist or taking it to civil court or both.

So I had to go to probation. I knew the administrator since she had previously been in the Clerk’s office. But as I was waiting I saw the jury all pass by a few at a time, I acknowledged them all with a smile. Also Lisa and her mother passed. Then I went in and filled out the paperwork. Took maybe ten minutes. The form says the case remains open until 6/21/13 and will close after that if I am not “convicted of offenses which risk incarceration. No Additional Conditions.”

So I called the shop on my cell phone on the way out of the courthouse, and a scary Lisa Meneguzzo was waiting for me in the parking lot, like a bully from school. She said: ‘You didn’t win this one”. I was on the phone, but I said , well, yes I did, I feel good about it. She said “no you didn’t.” “You’ll get yours”. I said “Hold on a sec, I want to take a video, and I turned my phone cam on her as she drove away.

I went back in and asked a Marshall to give her a call and tell her to leave me alone. I don’t like police, and I certainly never want to see her again. I don’t know what I will do if she ever comes in my shop again, but I assume I will just have to call the police and keep my mouth absolutely shut.

Posted in Book, Case Related, Incompetence, Stupid Laws, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

From out of town

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Kent

On the day that I get back I will have an appointment in the court to meet the judge who will try the case (if the State continues with their silliness) and answer various motions both of us have entered. If the documents aren’t in the documents folder now they will be soon for us all to see.

There is a motion the State filed to exclude the history of the State’s only witness, the only person who believes she saw a crime being committed. Upon my return the State will have a final witness list, supposedly, and the final of the three judges involved will consider this motion and others.

To keep my thoughts in order I have decided to write about this issue for consideration before meeting my judge. I have already met my jury.

This woman, the States witness, is responsible for this circus and the State wishes to exclude information about previous circuses that have had her at the center. I myself beat her in small claims court in 2002. That the State wants to exclude this woman’s history is tantamount to me wanting to have her testimony excluded. I wonder if even she is aware of how many people she is responsible for arrest and/or punishment.

My first thoughts were these three points:

1. This is not a case about her charges against me, which are silly, but rather about how Probable Cause was found to arrest me for breach of peace for

“engaging in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior in a public place; or (2) assaulting or striking another; or (3) threatening to commit any crime against another person or such other person’s property; or (4) publicly exhibiting, distributing, posting up or advertising any offensive, indecent or abusive matter concerning any person; or (5) in a public place, using abusive or obscene language or making an obscene gesture; or (6) creating a public and hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which such person is not licensed or privileged to do.”

It is now up to the jury to decide, of course, but I read nothing in Ms Meneguzzo’s sworn statement that accuses me of any of those things. Regardless the police found Probably Cause to arrest me for it anyway.

2. Although Ms Meneguzzo admitted in her sworn statement that my purpose was to get her to leave, and she refused to leave; and although she lies in her statement that she tried to re-enter my shop, my home, to get a receipt that she has now (she did not know it was all on video); and even though her sworn statement says she refused to leave my shop the police officer who arrested me for Probable Cause in that sworn statement found “No Probably Cause” to investigate my allegations that she, well, refused to leave my shop. Go figure.

3. This case is about why we have another circus with Ms Meneguzzo at its center. I don’t believe she deliberately put herself there, but I believe the legal system we have, which is very definitely not a justice system, is because the police decided to arrest me. After the arrest there is nothing to do and no one to do it except the jury. No one makes any sense in the mean time, and until the case hits the jury the State is on cruise control: pick a jury, list all the evidence, try to exclude any evidence that might not put me in jail, play the game and do it right and no one looks at the big picture: a circus with Ms Meneguzzo again at the center. That is your job. Your instructions are, like all instructions in our legal system, to follow the letter of the law and find me guilty if necessary even though finding me guilty might not be fair or just or right or true. This case is a very good example of why our American legal system is an affront to any justice system. The check in the checks and balances of our system is that jury doesn’t have to tell anyone why it finds me guilty or innocent of these stupid charges.

I have been thinking a lot about this, that once someone enters the system, as they put it on TV, there is little way out of the system short of a guilty plea or a jury verdict. That means that once arrested it takes a jury to get me out. In the mean time we are all on autopilot. The State isn’t about to make a move. I think you can see right now why I can’t trust anyone but the jury at this point to look at this circus for what it really is. I can understand that people reading this don’t believe it is the way I am explaining it, and I can’t tell you with any authority anything, I am not a lawyer and I am at the wrong end of the system, but I can tell you what happened.

And therein lies the problem. I can tell you what happened. I can, but I don’t have to. And if I do tell you, or the police, or anyone, what happened whatever I say can be used against me. So it is in my best interest NOT to say anything. So all lawyers everywhere say don’t talk. I understand that now. But I don’t think you understand it yet. I understood that when Officer Holcomb told me that if I didn’t show the video I would be arrested I knew what would be involved in showing the video. The quicker way to my birthday party was to be arrested. And now I understand that once arrested the only way out was a jury trial, because no one else will see this as the circus it is.

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To people interested in our Justice system.

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Kent

This is the first draft of the speech I intend to give to the jury in my trial.

I am not a lawyer but I am not stupid. And you aren’t stupid either. The case is very simple, but the Justice system we are using is very complicated. Overly complicated, and in this case, kind of silly. I will get back to that.

The case is my word against the cop killer’s girlfriend. You will meet her, or else the case is over. Only she and I were in the room when the events took place that are in her statement which caused me to be charged with two crimes. Breach of Peace which is the more ridiculous of the two because there were only two people present when I supposedly breached, I guess, her peace, and nothing in her statement suggests I did anything that breach peace according to the law. But we will see what she says on the stand.

The other charge is Unlawful Restraint. And the reason this case is simple is that there was no intent to restrain the cop killer’s girlfriend. The law says I must intend to restrain. Obviously I just wanted her to leave and she refused to leave. I walked out the door twice and when I came back she still refused to leave. She finally left when I walked toward her car and she said “stay away from my BMW” and I beat her back into my shop and locked the door from the inside.

You will note I never said I locked the door while she was inside. When the police arrived she was at her own shop two blocks away and I was in Litchfield on my way to my birthday party. The only reason I returned is because the police wandered in unrestrained to the place where I am accused of restraining someone by locking a door that remained locked. So, maybe, she could have just left by a different door? Or is a janitor guilty of unlawful restraint when he or she tells you to take a different stairway?

So there is no way I am guilty of either charge, but we are here and who knows why? Well, it is our justice system that puts me here in front of a group of reasonable people following unreasonble rules for some very strange reasons. And that isn’t that half of it. To arrive at this point I had to go through many hoops. Motions, supoenas, discovery… I can write a book. In fact, I will write a book and you all will probably want to buy it because you will have a part in it. I won’t name names, of course, unless you give permission. But all the people whose job it is to be here, well, you all are fair game.

I have to continue to go through those hoops in front of you here now. We all know fr0m television shows the police catch scumbags and read them their rights. And we know those rights, the right to remain silent. Let me warn you not to use that right. More about that later as well. But here is a link to the evidence, motions and documents so far:

http://www.compx2.com/goliath/trialdocs

I have a right to a lawyer. But let’s think about that one as well. Can you imagine what it costs to keep this court house, this judge, this prosecutor, these marshalls… I mean, would you come here yourself if you didn’t have to? How much would a lawyer cost to do what I am doing right now? Who would walk in these doors if they weren’t getting paid? And these people work with each other all day every day. They know each other, they make deals. I was offered a deal, but I didn’t take it. And everyone, I mean everyone, probaly even you the jury, think I should hire a lawyer. They negotiate prison time, sentencing, guilty pleas, I mean, this is their job. But it is my life we are talking about, and I have not yet met a lawyer I would trust no to plead me down the river to save me money and time.

I also have the right not to incriminate myself. Also, the State has to prove my guilt and I don’t have to confess if I am guilty. Which is tricky here in front of you reasonable people because I am under oath, but I am not testifying. So I will be using a lot of conditional statements, like IF I locked the door then I might be guilty of unlawful restraint. That was the police view. That is what I was told. So IF I say I locked the door then would be confessing to a crime except for you the jury. You need to decide IF I locked the door, and if I did lock the door, if that is a crime. Like the janitor.

But I don’t think that way, and I don’t think any of you do either. But I am not going to say I locked the door even though I don’t think locking the door is a crime. Which is one reason I say our justice system is complicated. Also, you will be told that you have to find me guilty if da da da da da. You are reasonable people and you will act reasonably.

I was not informed of my rights until I was put in jail. You would think that police would tell people their Miranda rights automatically. But Sergeant Rouleau asked me, good humoredly, if I restrained the woman and of course I said “no”. Then he asked Officer Hogan if I had been advised of my rights. But it made little difference since I was never asked what happened. No officer took my statement to this day.

Another stupid part of our justice system is that you can’t ask questions. I will try to say everything that I think you want to know, but I know you are going to be left with questions unless you sleep through the whole thing. Yeah, this will probably be quite boring despite my best efforts to make it exciting and interesting. But I promise you no one wants to be here any less than me.

The silly system says I don’t have to say anything, but the truth is if I don’t say anything I will be arrested. It says I have a right to defend myself in front of a jury of my peers and I don’t have to incriminate myself. But I can’t say what happened straight out because I am not testifying and I need to veil things that I know are true by saying this might have happened or if it was this way would it still be a crime?

There are things I am directed NOT to tell you. I don’t know why, and I certainly thing you should know these things. But that is our system.

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Time to step up and tell the truth…

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Kent

I woke up about 4 AM, maybe a bit earlier. All the stuff I am about to tell you was swirling in my head. I went to bed way too early last night, so don’t think it is lack of sleep that is causing my self-re-examination. But now it is 6 AM, got back from the gym, made coffee and realized that creativity is the only reason for humanity. More about that later.

Spent yesterday picking a jury. Surprised how many people don’t mind saying they cannot be fair. The rejected jurors had no trouble saying they would believe a Police Officer over anyone else even if the judge directs them not to. The other rejected juror was way too smart for the prosecutor to let into a jury. Let me tell you more about the prosecutor later as well.

I don’t much respect the prosecutor, she has not even read her case. So far it seems everyone just want to scare me, to convince me that I am not as good at their job as they are. I was lectured by the judge. After the last juror arrived on the stand and said someone has to be first and someone has to be last. I responded that no one wants to be here LESS than I do. Judge says that was inappropriate, that I will have my chance to address the jury later. I thought it was funny. The juror didn’t get it.

I asked each juror who they knew who owned a small business, if they had ever been arrested, and details about each business and arrest. Several of the jurors were known to me, and all of them were rejected by the judge. One was the wife of a business owner I have known for, maybe, 30 years. I knew that he had been arrested recently for some business dealings but it had not been in the papers. Why should they publish the arrests of business owners…? Only I should be so lucky… Anyway, she had answered questions that she did not know anyone in trouble with the law. I told her I had very recently seen her husband at a restaurant, asked if she remembered any of the the details about the work he had done for me (she didn’t). I remembered everything. Sooo. Finally I muttered, did she know anyone who had been arrested. Long story short, she started crying and the judge excused her.

This morning we have to pick two alternates. And I have to figure how to udate my web site so that I can step up and and write all the hurt, anguish, dispair and hum0r into posterity. The prosecutor does not know, at this time, that the ONLY witness against me is a criminal of national notoriety, the girlfriend of a cop-killer on death row. She does not know and does not care. I don’t think there is any reasoning or thought to the prosecutor’s position. I can’t imagine they have come this far with any plan. They must just be plugging along, following an anonymous play book. But in the mean time I keep going over speeches I will make to the jury.

I asked the prosecutor if she knew her witness yet, she said no. She said it is nothing personal. I said, of course not, smiling, for her it is a job. For me it is my life. She asked each juror if, when they were done deliberating and found me guilty unanimously, they would have trouble saying to my face that I am guilty. Each one that was approved said they would have no trouble doing so.

Oh well, time to post all the documents for the case. I will be scanning and putting up links as time permits. But for now let me hit the shower. As I said above, this is my life, for good or bad, and I have to live my life. One of my imaginary speeches to the jury says I am a lucky man, all three of my children and my two grandchildren live within an hour of this court house. If they put me in prison for a year and a half I will make the best of it, write, excersize, create, and pick up my life again after I get out.

The case is as complicated as it is stupid. It boils down to two questions: 1. Did I lock a door, and if I did lock the door and 2. does locking that door constitute “unlawful restraint” under the law. The law says to be illegal I had to have intended to restrain her. I believe it was Officer Cook who said to me that locking the door constituted restraint. Therefore if I said I locked the door they would arrest me. I answered to go ahead and arrest me. I said I did not say I locked the door (that would be a confession, admission of guilt to the officer, in his mind anyway) but they never took my statement….

All I wanted was for Lisa Meneguzzo http://voices.yahoo.com/lisa-meneguzzo-brian-nichols-other-high-profile-778129.html?cat=17 to leave my shop. My car was packed with stuff for my birthday party and I was leaving for Orlando the following day. There is no way I locked her in my shop. And the police wandered into the shop while I was in Litchfield on my way to the party. They are on the video surveillance. Lisa called them from her own store up the street to make a complaint. She was never restrained for even a second. She wouldn’t leave.

So that is the case. My word against a notorious criminal and the girlfriend of a cop-killer on death row. She said I restrained her, I say she wouldn’t leave. She was long gone by the time the cops arrived anyway. They took her statement, arrested me, and never asked me anything.

Later the documents.

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