Ed note: This story ran on March 29, 2010 and is as pertinent today as it was then. Ms. Kemp goes to court again on August 2nd. Will you be there to support her?
Pulte Homes, Adam Levy and Justice Putnam Style: For what the Town of Carmel and Putnam County has done over the years to Lori Kemp you’d think agents from the human rights court in the Hague would descend from the heavens and arrest anyone who has ever sat on a board in that town. But that didn’t happen for too seldom do those who deserve justice get actually it.
Instead, Putnam County DA Adam Levy’s office has his people prosecuting Ms. Kemp for Harassment for, well, it gets confusing and rather Kafkaesque after that. It’s not enough that the government, in cahoots with Putnam County’s favored developer has fucked up her life and her home, now the District Attorney and the Carmel Police Department add insult to her injuries in an effort to punish her for daring to speak out and for the crime of protecting her property and quality of life.
At the beginning of all this the DA was persecuting her with an assault charge but that would have brought about a public show trial. To make absolutely sure the public would never know the truth and the horror of what the People In Power have been doing to Ms. Kemp he dropped the charge to a lesser one thus eliminating the embarrassing public thrashing they’d get. Now it’s just Ms. Kemp, the ADA and Judge Spofford in deliberations. Justice, Putnam Style.
It’s not enough that the foundations of her home are as frayed as her nerves, that her property has lost virtually all its value, that they blasted and blasted and blasted, sometimes within softball toss distance of her home, sometimes without warning, until her teeth chattered as much as her china and that when police were called for redress they cast her not as a victim – but as the perpetrator of a criminal act.
Suffice to say that if a former Kent councilman can shoot a guy in the back because he felt threatened by a stick and not only got away with it but had the other guy charged(!) don’t you think a 100lb, 5’2″ tall woman could, if she wanted to, stop an alleged trespasser on her property more than twice her size with no weapon other than her hand? State law is clear and provides for this but not in Putnam County and not in the Town of Carmel and certainly not when it has to do with political connections that run all the way from hell to heaven and back. Perhaps, as a gesture to justice, Victor Grossman, that ex-Kent councilman’s attorney would defend Ms. Kemp in court pro bono?
Let’s not hold our collective breath.
But the tribunal is coming up in Carmel Town Court and just like those in totalitarian regimes this one is designed to prosecute and convict and then at the press conference claim the System worked. I am sure the Journal News and the FOX Courier will dutifully report the DA’s statements and conveniently forget the horrific abuse the victim, now convicted for a brave act of self-defense, has endured at the hands of government.
I encourage you to call the County DA’s office at 845-225-3641 and tell them to drop the charges against Ms Kemp. They’ll tell you that they cannot discuss an ongoing case but persist that they hear what you’re saying and don’t be bullied by their legal double-speak. Tell them the DA can tick one conviction off his dossier without hurting his political career.
If ten of you call it could make a difference. If twenty of you call it will put Adam Levy, the politicians and the courts on notice. If thirty of you call we can stop this dead in its tracks. If none of you call, which has usually been the case in the past, then when your turn comes in court well, karma has a funny way of dealing with you.
This section was added on May 26:
Justice, Putnam Style
So many of you wrote yesterday asking for more information or thanking me for the reports. More than one wrote to recommend we take legal action against Francis O’Reilly, the legal aid attorney who was too busy, or something, to adequately represent Ms. Kemp and who quit before the judge on Monday evening. Others suggested that the length of the case (almost a year), the delays and the obvious dragging of feet should be reported to those who oversee municipal judges in New York state. While all of these suggestions are valid and important it’s not my place as I’m not directly involved with the case. But I do suggest that for those who are, that they seek legal redress from higher authorities in order that this abuse of justice no longer continues.
I also have to say that I am quite disappointed with District Attorney Adam Levy. For all the work he’s done with women and children over the years, work for which he has been quite properly lauded, it’s a strange wonder that he would direct his office to continue the legal and political assault against a defenseless, helpless woman. For a man seeking higher office having the crucifixion of a besieged, single woman as his campaign motto does not seem to be the badge he should want to carry. The longer this charade goes on the more closely he will be tied to the abusive nature of the political establishment in this county and if that is what he wants on his resumé he will be more successful than he could ever have imagined.
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