Reporter ticketed while covering protest outside New Hampshire governor’s home

Christopher Maidment, a reporter for NH Journal, was ticketed by police in Newfields, New Hampshire, for violating an anti-picketing ordinance while covering a protest outside the home of Gov. Chris Sununu on Dec. 28, 2020.

Newfields’ Select Board had passed the ordinance the previous week to ban “picketing before or about the residence or dwelling of any individual” in the town. The ban came amid protests on public property outside Sununu’s home against his COVID-19 executive orders, including a statewide mask mandate.

During the pandemic, the governor had been conducting official business from his home instead of his office, and the protests had followed him there, prompting complaints from neighbors.

The governor’s brother, Michael Sununu, was one of the three members of the Select Board that passed the ordinance.

On the night of Dec. 28, a small group gathered outside the governor’s home to protest the ordinance. New Hampshire State Police were at the scene to assist Newfields police.

NH Journal reported that even though Maidment was “clearly displaying a media ID and repeatedly identified himself as a member of the press,” he was charged by a Newfields police officer with “residential picketing” and ordered to pay a $100 fine by Jan. 28, 2021. Eight others were also ticketed and fined $100 under the ordinance, and one person was arrested.

“Our reporter was doing his job, covering a local, New Hampshire story that deals with both the current debate over COVID policy and the fundamental freedoms protected by the U.S. Constitution,” Michael Graham, NH Journal’s managing editor, told the outlet. “We will not be paying the fine. We will see the town of Newfields in court.”

NH Journal reported on June 18, 2022, that Newfields Police Prosecutor Michael DiCroce had dropped the case against Maidment.

DiCroce told the outlet he dropped the case after a judge acquitted others who had been ticketed the same night.

Maidment, who went on to become a politician in the state, is one of six people who filed a lawsuit on Nov. 1, 2023, against a Newfields police officer, the estate of another officer, a state trooper, the town of Newfields and the state Department of Public Safety, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

The plaintiffs allege malicious and retaliatory prosecution, and ask for compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney’s fees.

In a later filing, they argue that the ordinance itself violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutional.

That filing also describes the deposition testimony of the state trooper named as a defendant. The trooper said he told Maidment there was “no written exception” to the ordinance for reporters, and that he instructed the journalist — who was initially standing away from the group of protesters — to march with them. It was then that the group members were ticketed.

Maidment declined to comment while the litigation is ongoing.

The Newfields Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. The New Hampshire State Police referred the Tracker to the attorney general’s office, which did not respond to a request for comment.