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Free speech advocates are celebrating a win for religious expression after a judge threw out a criminal threatening case filed against a Somersworth man who posted a sign on a progressive church’s door.

The facts in the case were never in dispute.

A little before 4 a.m. on June 20 last year, Isaac Santiago, 50, posted a sign on the door of First Parish Church in Dover, a progressive congregation that prominently displays pro-LGBTQ images.

“Jesus is coming soon! The devil deceived you! God will never except [sic] LGBTQ. Be saved today, or you will perish in your sins! Repent and believe!” the sign read. Santiago didn’t attempt to enter the church, damage property, or confront any parishioners.

The dispute arose when prosecutors treated Santiago’s message as a criminal threat and attempted to have him convicted and jailed over what they said was a warning of spiritual consequences for pro-LGBTQ Christians.

On Tuesday, Strafford County Superior Court Judge Andrew Livernois granted a motion to dismiss the charges filed by Santiago’s attorneys.

“Assuming that the state were able to garner a conviction for criminal threatening in this case, it could not sustain a constitutional challenge under either the N.H. or United States Constitutions, because it would violate the defendant’s right to free speech,” Livernois wrote.

First Parish is a Congregational church that prides itself on its pro-LGBTQ community. Its ministers have performed same-sex marriage ceremonies for many years, and the church sign incorporates an LGBTQ rainbow. Santiago is a member of First Fruits Ministries in Manchester, which describes itself as a “first century Judeo-Christian Messianic congregation.”

“[Santiago] told the police that he viewed his actions as being part of his ‘ministry’; that God does not accept LGBTQ people, and that he was trying to spread that message, acknowledging that he may have gone about it in the wrong way,” Livernois wrote. “[Santiago] further told the investigators that he was not acting out of hate for anyone but did it ‘out of love’ and to share his religious convictions.”

While threatening speech can be prosecuted under the Constitution, Livernois ruled that Santiago’s short epistle, posted peacefully and late at night, did not rise to the level of an actual threat.

“The only portion of the sign which could arguably be viewed as threatening is the sentence that reads: ‘Be saved today or you will perish in your sins!’” Livernois wrote. “This could certainly suggest the idea of possible violence. But as [Santiago] points out, that language could also be interpreted as referring to the natural and inevitable death that every person will undergo.

“The ambiguity of the language undercuts the state’s position that the sign constituted a true threat. If it is a threat, it is quite vague and generalized.”

And, Liverois added, “except for certain narrow circumstances, the government cannot normally criminalize expressive conduct.”

Santiago was represented by Cornerstone Policy Research’s Ian Huyett, associate director and head of litigation, and attorney Rick Lehmann.

“It was a good day for free speech,” Lehmann said after the ruling.

Shannon McGinley, executive director of Cornerstone, said Livernois’s ruling protects all Christians who preach about sin and salvation.

“This case illustrates a serious risk: Because Santiago was charged solely for the content of his religious speech — and not for placing a sign on church property — allowing this prosecution to proceed would have left other Christians in New Hampshire vulnerable to criminal charges simply for warning others about hell and the judgment of God, even without any accompanying conduct,” McGinley said.

The case echoes the current legal dispute involving the Bow, N.H., school district, which banned parents from wearing pink wristbands with “XX” on them to protest a biological male playing on a high school girls’ soccer team. The district argued that it was the message, not the protest itself, that was “threatening,” and that parents were free to display pro-LGBT messages if they chose. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen McAuliffe affirmed that view in his ruling, which is being appealed.

Appeals court judges appeared dubious of that argument during a hearing in Boston earlier this month.

Andrew Manuse, lead pastor of First Fruits, hopes other Christians will take heart from Santiago’s court victory.

“I support Mr. Santiago’s message to First Parish Church in Dover, which was a loving call for errant leaders and members to turn away from their sins of affirming LGBTQ and repent to live in the righteousness and grace of Jesus Christ. More Christians need to stand firm in their faith as he has done.”

The UNH staffer charged with threatening to kill Vivek Ramaswamy and at least one other GOP politician was ordered released Thursday.

Tyler Anderson, 30, had been jailed since his arrest Saturday at his Dover apartment after federal agents connected him to the threats to kill Ramaswamy at a Portsmouth event.

According to court records, Ramaswamy’s campaign team sent text invitations to a list of potential voters on the Seacoast on Friday, ahead of the “Breakfast with Vivek” event slated for Monday.

Anderson got an invitation and allegedly responded with grisly and obscene threats.

“‘Great, another opportunity for me to blow his brains out!’ Anderson reportedly replied. He followed up with, ‘I’m going to kill everyone who attends and then f*** their corpses.’”

Ramaswamy isn’t the only GOP official Anderson has threatened, according to court records. Investigators found another series of alarming messages Anderson sent in response to another campaign text from a different candidate.

 “Fantastic, now I know where to go so I can blow that bastard’s head off.” “Thanks, I’ll see you there. Hope you have the stamina for a mass shooting!” “And then I’m gonna f*** (names) corpse.” “And don’t worry, (name), I’ll make sure to f*** yours too.”

The name of the other candidate is not being released. Anderson reportedly told investigators he had sent similar texts to other campaigns.

Anderson had no intention of following through on any of the threats, his attorney Dorothy Graham argued. He had no criminal record prior to the arrest.

Anderson is free on several conditions, including:

• He has no contact with Ramaswamy or members of his campaign staff;
• He stays away from all presidential campaigns;
• He takes medication for mental health conditions;
• His roommates’ guns must be removed from the apartment they share.

A 2018 UNH graduate, Anderson recently started a new job as an administrative assistant at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture. UNH administrative assistants typically earn between $35,000 and $45,000 a year.

The University did not respond to NHJournal’s request for comment.

School districts across the Granite State are putting families’ lives in a state of flux, and increasing parents’ frustrations as they face last-minute school closings.

Nashua parents were informed late Friday there will be no school this coming Monday or Tuesday after close to 200 teachers called out from work.

“The Nashua School District continues to fail its students,” said Alicia Houston, a mother and activist who has butted heads with the district since the start of COVID lockdowns.

Nashua’s Interim Superintendent Garth McKinney sent a letter on Friday stating school is canceled on Jan. 11 and 12 as there will not be enough teachers in the buildings.

“We are alarmed with the high number of staff absences across our schools these last few days,” McKinney wrote.

The Nashua district employs more than 1,000 teachers who are members of the Nashua Teachers Union. Union Vice President Gary Hoffman isn’t sure why approximately 20 percent of the district’s union teaching staff is calling out, but he suspects COVID.

“I am not sure. We’re trying to find out. I assume it’s Covid related mostly,” Hoffman said in an email.

Houston said this is par for the course for the Nashua District, which has not shown enough concern about what shutdowns do to working parents and children. 

“Since March of 2020, the focus has not been on the education of the children and their academic success,” Houston said. “The reasoning behind the mass call out remains unclear. However, very bad timing is creating a very poor optic for some Nashua parents. When will the focus be brought back to the best interest of the students and their learning?”

Nashua School Board member Ray Guarino blamed Gov. Chris Sununu for the shutdowns in a Facebook post.

“Governor Sununu ordered all districts back to school and we had no backup plan as delta and omicron began to surge. We should have done better by our students, teachers, and their families. I would hope that we at least make plans for a remote option,” Guarino wrote.

Parents, on the other hand, have expressed frustration with school systems and teachers unions pushing to keep classrooms closed. Data show remote learning has been an academic disaster, particularly for low-income families and students of color.

Nashua parents are not alone dealing with uncertainty about their schools’ policies. Dover’s School District warned parents this week to be prepared for shutdowns, as the closures may be announced at the last minute.

Dover Superintendent William Harbron wrote to parents that staff shortages due to COVID might shut down individual schools within the district. With no options available for remote learning, parents were told to be ready with a backup plan in case of a closure.

“I fully understand this is not the news you would like to hear,” Harbron wrote in the email.

Contacted Friday. Harbron expressed sympathy for parents who are struggling with the possibility of sudden school closures.

It’s not just closure parents need to watch for. In some municipalities, mask mandates for public spaces are coming fast. While cities like Keene and Nashua voted on new mask mandates in recent weeks, Portsmouth’s City Manager Karen Conard issued a unilateral directive on Friday ordering masks be worn indoors by everyone over the age of five.

“Given the current metrics relative to percent positivity and hospitalization utilization due to COVID, the health officer has determined that in order to protect the public health, proper face coverings must be used in all publicly accessible indoor areas and places of employment,” Conard said in a statement released Friday.

Conard based her decision on a recommendation from the city’s Health Department. While the city directive does not apply to schools, Portsmouth public school students have already been wearing masks indoors at school this year, according to district policy.