Mother, Disability & Special Ed #Advocate, Attorney & Writer. Tweets about #SpecialNeeds, #SpecialEd, advocacy, disability, social justice, & health. 🇮🇪🇺🇸
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Important update from @KYMaverick1. He needs a new caregiver asap to have his life saving lung transplant approved. Please share this post. I know there is someone out there.
The people of Norfolk County have something to say.
They want @adamdeitch as their District Attorney, they want justice for John O'Keefe, and they want justice for Sandra Birchmore and her unborn baby boy.
The election-deciding primary is in September.
Credit: @DennisSwee8265
Alvin Campbell Jr., the older brother of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, was convicted on 21 of the 22 charges against him. https://t.co/3sfojoqsUo
For all those who have followed Harmony's story with me and who care about this beautiful little girl, here is my statement on the decision by the New Hampshire Supreme Court to overturn the conviction and send the case back for a new trial:
Once again the State of New Hampshire has decided to extend the unconscionable abuse of Harmony Montgomery even further by overturning the conviction of Adam Montgomery.
The Court did not find Adam Montgomery innocent, nor did it conclude that Harmony was not murdered. Rather, it determined that legal errors regarding the joinder of charges deprived him of a fair trial on the murder count and ordered a new trial.
Nothing, when it comes to this case, has been fair to a beautiful little girl who was brutally abused by her violent father and then brutally treated by the New Hampshire child welfare system.
It is impossible to discuss this case without thinking first of Harmony. Long before there was a criminal trial or an appeal, there was a little girl who was failed by the adults and institutions charged with protecting her.
The decision is also deeply personal for me. I was the judge who finalized the adoption of Harmony's brother Jamison, just weeks before Harmony was murdered. I came to know Jamison's adoptive fathers, Blair and Johnathon Miller even before I finalized the adoption. I worked alongside them to tell Harmony's story in "A Cruel Injustice." We developed a deep and lasting friendship between our families.
Through that experience, I witnessed firsthand the profound love they have for their children and the enduring pain caused by Harmony's loss.
Today's ruling changes the legal path forward, but it does not change the underlying tragedy. Harmony remains the victim. Her brother and his family carry an unimaginable burden.
My first reaction to today's decision is not as a former judge, but as someone who has spent years examining how New Hampshire's child protection system failed Harmony Montgomery at virtually every turn. Those failures do not and did not end with Harmony.
The reversal is disappointing because it means yet another chapter in a case that should never have existed in the first place. Long before there was a criminal trial, an appeal, or a Supreme Court decision, there was a little girl who was repeatedly failed by the very institutions charged with protecting her.
The public should never forget that Harmony's death did not occur in a vacuum. Reports of abuse were not properly investigated. Evidence presented at trial contradicted key representations made in the Governor's report regarding the state's response to those reports. Opportunities to intervene were missed. Warnings were ignored. And a vulnerable child was left in circumstances that ultimately proved fatal.
The criminal case may be entering a new phase but the systemic failures that left Harmony vulnerable and placed her on a lethal trajectory remain unaddressed today. Those failures remain every bit as deserving of scrutiny and accountability—as they were before this decision was handed down.
New Hampshire's responsibility for the failures that placed Harmony in danger remains exactly the same today as it was yesterday.
A huge milestone was reached yesterday as the HSE Drugs Group finally recommended funding for the life-changing Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug, Givinostat, following immense pressure from the "Time is Muscle" campaign.
Hopefully there will be no delay in progressing getting this to the point of those who need it actually getting it.
However, the victory should have also included the Friedreich’s ataxia community, who was completely left off the agenda, leaving roughly 200 Irish patients still stranded without access to their vital treatment, Skyclarys. Families shouldn’t have to fight different corners of a broken system just to secure the basic right to healthcare.
#RightToMedication #HSE #Brokensystem
https://t.co/x9hWxlxB6A
📌 So let me get this straight…
During H3 Podcast’s discussion about @DoctorTurtleboy, a supporter says she was timed out simply for commenting that Aidan has a “big heart” and for reaching out to let him know he was being discussed.
Why? Because she believed he had a right to know and a right to defend himself.
And apparently were told they tattletaled to Turtleboy, as if informing someone they are the subject of a public discussion is somehow inappropriate.
Love him or hate him, if you’re going to dedicate an entire segment to talking about someone, shouldn’t they at least be afforded the opportunity to respond? Since when did informing someone they are being discussed become controversial?
Silencing supporters and shutting down even mildly positive comments while criticizing someone publicly doesn’t project confidence in your arguments. It sends the message that only one side of the conversation is welcome.
Agree with Turtleboy or not, free speech, fairness, and due process shouldn’t disappear because the target is someone unpopular with certain corners of the internet.
Nobody should be condemned without being allowed to speak for themselves.
#Turtleboy #AidanKearney #H3Podcast #FreeSpeech
“Proctor and his personal bias was the driving force in seeking to criminalize Aidan’s reporting/speech in order to silence his criticism about the misguided prosecution of Karen Read,” Kearney defense lawyer Mark Bederow said Wednesday.
https://t.co/yWDSssAe39
Today’s Queen: @MarburyvVeryMad
🏆 Attorney Corri Hopkins 🏆
While the Karen Read case played out in the courtroom and the headlines, we have to take a moment to give a MASSIVE shoutout to the person who has been relentlessly dismantling the "old boys' club" secrecy from the outside: Queen Corri
👑 Corri has written the masterclass on how to use the public records laws to force transparency. Here is exactly why she deserves her flowers for the incredible impact she's had for so many of us.
📄 When MassDOT tried to refuse to produce any public records related to the case, Corri didn't complain, she filed a massive ~400~ page lawsuit against them. Because of her absolute refusal to back down, the state was forced to hand over documents that the public would have otherwise never seen.
🔎 Corri has been the master of accountability when it comes to the invoices and the money trail. Her attention to every detail on the FOIA documents exposed that Aperture purchased a bunch of tail lights that they seemingly never ended up showing to the jury.
⚖️ During the trial, the public was kept in the dark by an unprecedented amount of private sidebars. Corri has been fiercely fighting through the courts to ensure those sidebars are unsealed, arguing that keeping them hidden violates the public's right to know what happened in that courtroom.
Corri Hopkins proved that when the government tries to hide behind redactions, sealed documents, and closed doors, a brilliant attorney with a deep understanding of the law and an unbreakable resolve can pry the truth out into the light.
Thank you, Corri, for fighting for the transparency that Norfolk County so desperately needed!
XO
A Norfolk County Resident
On Thursday, I called for current Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey to resign effective immediately. Last week’s text message revelations represent another devastating blow to the credibility of the State Police Detective Unit at the Norfolk County DA’s Office and to anyone who supervised them — including and especially Michael Morrissey. Racism, bigotry, misogyny, and antisemitism have no place in law enforcement in Massachusetts and will never be tolerated under my leadership as DA.
Read Adam’s full statement at https://t.co/NwjLFk51b5
The Court lecturing Karen’s attorneys on civility today—given Proctor’s conduct AND given Proctor’s attorneys’ misrepresentations about her in their briefing—is wild.
Yea Karen Read, how dare you not notify the massive misogynist, racist and bigot former state trooper who framed you for murder that you were going to file a lawsuit that revealed what a massive misogynist, racist and bigot he is.
Norfolk County, it isn't going to be just vote. You're going to have to do the work. Signs, volunteer, knock on doors, make calls, talk to everyone you know and especially people you don't. Get way outside your comfort zone. Adam's going to need you to.
Candidates for Norfolk district attorney are calling on current office holder Michael Morrissey to resign in the wake of bigoted text messages from a former state trooper in his unit and another officer that were revealed in a Karen Read lawsuit. https://t.co/nWGz52Ygsg
@teamBarakatMA@TheEmilySee Drop out and endorse @adamdeitch. Not that you have many voters, but we can’t afford to split voters and watch @VoteGregConnor win. If you stay in the race you are nothing but a plant for the Morrissey administration
If your organization endorses Greg Connor, you’re endorsing everything that occurred under his leadership including Michael Proctor’s disgusting racist texts and planting evidence on innocent people. Not a good look IW Local 7, I’d advise against it.
Lance Umble is a senior Vice President at Phoenix Commercial Advisors. Three weeks ago he proudly boasted that he stands with Michael Proctor, despite the fact that Proctor routinely calls black people the n word, said that he wishes he could still own slaves, called black children attending Canton High School "niglets", and said that America sucks and he wishes Hitler defeated us in World War 2 (presumably because Hitler wouldn't tolerate all the racial minority groups that bother Proctor so much). Lance Umble stands with all of those messages. Does Phoenix Commercial Advisors stand with Lance Umble @zonaeagle and Michael Proctor too? Feel free to contact them and ask yourself. They can be reached at 602-957-9800, or via email at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].