An apology to all of the brave men and women who have ever served in the United States Military

I want to apologize to all of the people who have bravely served our country, for the insensitive and disgraceful comments made by Dearborn County Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Kisor.

“Soldiers did not die” to give Dan Brewington the ability to threaten Judge James D. Humphrey. This is an approximate statement made by Deputy Prosecutor Kisor during the prosecutions closing arguments in my criminal trial. Deputy Prosecutor Kisor, along with Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard, spent the majority of the trial trying to convince a jury that my internet writings were not protected by the First Amendment of the United States of America. Deputy Prosecutor Kisor claimed my speech was criminal because it wasn’t “appropriate.” He claimed that my speech wasn’t free because the “victims,” who were the subject of my speech, “paid the price” for my actions. Though there were absolutely no threats of illegal conduct in any of my writings Kisor pled to the jury that the “totality” of my writings constituted a threat. In his premeditated and dramatic theatrical presentation, Dearborn County Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Kisor emphatically communicated to the jury that the only reason I took on the judicial system was because I didn’t like the results of my divorce. Apparently Deputy Prosecutor Kisor believes that US citizens lose the right to question the judiciary if the court rules against them. Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Kisor either has no understanding of the First Amendment of the Constitution or he is using the blood of fallen military people as a soul-less metaphor in an attempt to deprive the public of the most fundamental freedom that our soldiers died to protect. John Adams once stated, “[The people] have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible divine right to the most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers.” Patriots have not fought and died to protect the rights of rulers to have the people kneel down and worship the authority of the ruler; they fought and died to protect the people’s ability to seek out and publicly criticize the character and conduct of the ruler. If the rulers have the ability to censor public opinion of their character and conduct, all freedom may be lost.

Dearborn County, Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard ranted about how the internet has somehow been damaging to the United States Judicial System because it gives people easy access to a venue where they have the ability to criticize judges. Negangard portrayed judges, like Judge James D. Humphrey, as precious, delicate orchid that may wilt and crumble in the face of even the slightest adverse conditions. He and Deputy Prosecutor Kisor continuously referred to the John Adams quote on the stained glass window in the courtroom. They kept reciting “we are a nation of laws and not of men,” and acting as if they were present when John Adams penned his Thoughts on Government. They used the quote, which Adams borrowed from the writings of the seventeenth-century philosopher James Harrington, to make themselves appear noble and patriotic. What they failed to mention was that Adams did not enjoy the right to free speech until after the Revolutionary War. On September 11, 1776 John Adams accompanied Edward Rutledge and Benjamin Franklin to a conference requested by British Admiral Richard Lord Howe to discuss giving up the Declaration of Independence as Lord Howe claimed “it might possible effect the King’s purposes to restore peace and grant pardons” the committee of three obviously rejected Lord Howe’s proposal. Years later, Adams discovered Lord Howe had been given a list of American rebels who were granted pardons. John Adams was not on the list and was to hang. In the eyes of King George III, Adams was at traitor to Great Britain. He had been one of the most vocal proponents in favor of declaring independence from England. John Adams’ outspoken patriotism would have been his death sentence if the Colonial Army would have been defeated. John Adams rolled over in his grave this past week when Dearborn County convicted a man for making “false” public statements about government officials and agents of the courts. The founding father would abhor the notion that he was quoted by prosecutors Negangard and Kisor in an effort to criminalize protected speech.

“You cannot be, I know, nor do I wish to see you, an inactive spectator… We have too many high sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them.” –Abigail Adams to John Adams. Rather than build on the words and wisdom of one of the greatest governmental minds in the history of human kind, F. Aaron Negangard and Joseph Kisor use the quotes of John Adams as a punch line to bolster their false pretense that they are protecting the public from rogue public speech. Kisor uses the name of our fallen soldier in vain in Kisor’s quest to deprive the public of the rights that the soldier died protecting.

“I cannot but wish I were better qualified.” – John Adams. It would much better serve people like F. Aaron Negangard and Joseph Kisor to take a more humble approach when interpreting constitutional law and the history of the United States of America. Patriots and Presidents like George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson risked their lives to construct a government that ensured protected freedoms. For over two hundred years, our military has fought and died to protect those freedoms. Contrary to Mr. Kisor’s contention, our fallen solder has protected our right to speak our minds and challenge leaders in government. The fallen soldier is so selfless that he/she protects the rights of the few individuals who choose to protect the soldier himself. So once again on behalf of Dearborn County officials like Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard and Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Kisor, I want to offer my sincerest apologies to the men and women who have served and are serving in our armed forces for the shallow patronizing of your services to our country.

Thank you for your support.

Quotes and historical information provided by John Adams, by David McCullough.

Contact Dan/family at: contactdanbrewinton@gmail.com