Friday October 8, 2010
By: Cara Stevens
Manchester, NH--- Tami Plyler the new Executive Editor of the financially strapped Union Leader is already in trouble with the law after less than two months in her new job for a violation of NH State Law RSA 651.V.XII, which is a criminal misdemeanor.
Edward C. Domaingue, the licentious former Executive Editor who was forced out by the Union Leader last month ran a series of stories in 2009 and again in 2010 that were written by Trent Spiner, a junior level journalist who has since also fled the beleaguered tabloid.
The issue is that an innocent man was charged with crimes by the Londonderry Police Department brought by Jennifer Keller of Nashua, NH who was refused a rental apartment by the man because Keller had a criminal record, was a drug addict and worked as a stripper.
The woman filed assault and criminal threatening charges against the man and the Londonderry NH Police Department failed to investigate the evidence in that case; evidence that would have exonerated the man early on and in many respects attempted to railroad the innocent man. The charges against the man were dropped when Keller fled NH when pressed to testify. Keller had attempted to file similar charges against three other men in the past five years, the Londonderry NH Police Department knew this, yet failed to investigate that evidence.
Chief William Hart and four of his officers and one detective are currently being investigated by the NH Attorney General's Office Criminal Investigation Bureau regarding numerous violations surrounding this case. The officers and one detective include (Officer Glenn L. Aprile, Officer Jason M. Archambault, Officer Kelly W. Kulig, Officer James J. Freda and Detective Donald A. LaDuke). Chief Hart could not be reached regarding a comment. The criminal allegations against Chief William Hart and his officer’s range from abuse of power; violations of the Fourth Amendment, false arrest and detention and excessive use of physical force. All the charges against the innocent man have since been expunged by the Rockingham Superior Court; in essence the incident did not occur.
The NH law RSA 651.V.XII makes it illegal to report information on an individual who has had charges brought against them but where the charges were either dropped or a non-guilty verdict was reached and where the arrest and charges were later annulled and expunged.
RSA 651.V.XII, reads as follows: A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if, during the life of another who has had a record of arrest or conviction annulled pursuant to this section, he discloses or communicates the existence of such record. The piece from Tami Plyler as editor continues to be found online and clearly falls into this violation of NH State Law.
“Basically Tami Plyler is in violation of this NH State law, as the articles are not correct and the information contained in the piece are downright lies written by Trent Spiner and approved by Ed Domainque and continue to be allowed to be run online by Tami Plyler,” said Jane Dunn, a journalist for the Fifth Estate. “I have read over the Union Leader’s articles and the facts of the case and the articles are sensationalistic, the facts distorted and no real balanced substance regarding the facts exists in the articles, basically something a cash strapped tabloid would write to sell papers,” said Dunn.
Tami Plyler was notified of the violations of NH State law but refused to remove the articles. The Union Leader’s attorney Gregory V. Sullivan of Malloy & Sullivan, Lawyers, 78 West Merrimack Street Manchester, NH 03101, provided the following written response to the violation of RSA 651.V.XII:
“I represent the Union Leader Corporation and its employees and agents. I do not agree with your opinion regarding the duties of media following the annullment (spelled as written by Sullivan) of arrest or court records, said Sullivan. “ I will be pleased to discuss this matter with you, or your representatives, at any time, “ said Greg Sullivan.
However when contacted Mr. Sullivan refused to respond or to comment on the articles and the violation of the RSA. “Mr. Sullivan seems to think he can overwrite the law on the books in NH without any regard to due process,” said Casey Clark, a close family friend of the man.
“Tami Plyler and Ed Domaingue have purposely destroyed this man's life by reporting information about the unidentified man that he was falsely accused of back in 2009, the man was cleared of all charges and received an annulment by a NH Superior Court," said Clark. “Tami Plyler should be held accountable for her actions in destroying this man's life. He has lost everything because of this case and continues to be persecuted by the Union Leader. He lost his job, his house, could not find a job and the worst thing out of everything is the depression that followed where the man attempted suicide, it's disgusting what this woman and her so called news organization have done, I hope she is convicted of the misdemeanor," said Clark.
Clark also stated that she believed that Tami Plyler did not run articles about bad cops being charged with crimes.
"There was a case where Londonderry Police Officer Jason Archambault was arrested in Manchester in January of this year and charged with assault against his girlfriend. This is a charge that the public has a right to know about, yet even though it was reported directly to Tami Plyler, she never ran the piece. It is obvious that she will not run stories, the truth about the police, because she is in bed with the police, that is clear," said Clark.
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