[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.