Cops Testify Frazier Claimed
She Owned St. Andrews Church
August, 2024
A six-member jury has exonerated Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan last month at Lawrence District Court on charges he violated a temporary harassment order out of Salem, New Hampshire.
The harassment order was taken out by Lawrence’s homeless coordinator Kelly Birchall Frazier who admitted she was mad that Duggan had published a story about her that she called “harassing.”
While awaiting a hearing on the temporary order scheduled for April 22nd in Salem, NH, Duggan attended an engagement party at St. Andrew’s Church function hall in Methuen on April 20th.
He posted a photo of himself and the father of the bride on Facebook and identified his location as St. Andrew’s Church.
Hours later, Frazier went to Methuen Police claiming he was in violation of the harassment order for being “at my work” and according to the arresting officer, claimed she owned the building.
Frazier works for the City of Lawrence and her office is located at 360 Merrimack St.
According to the Secretary of State’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office her non-profit (IVCS) address is listed at 47 Blanchard St. in Lawrence. No mention of 90 Broadway.
Testifying during Duggan’s two-day jury trial, Methuen Police Officer Kelly Phalen identified herself as the arresting officer and detailed the night she and her partner Officer Young showed up in North Andover to arrest Duggan saying he was “very cooperative.”
Duggan’s Attorney Bob Lewin of Andover questioned Officer Phalen about the night of April 20th.
“When he told you he was at an engagement party earlier that evening, didn’t you tell my client, Mr. Duggan that Kelly Frazier owned the building and that he was being arrested for violating the harassment order because she owned the building?”
Phalen: Yes
Lewin: Why did you tell him that?
Phalen: Because that’s what she told me.
Lewin: And didn’t Mr. Duggan say ‘she can’t own the building because it’s a church’?
Phalen: He did.
Lewin: In fact, didn’t he ask you, ‘did she show you proof she owns a church? I don’t believe she owns that church?’
Phalen: Yes he did, repeatedly.
Lewin: And you arrested Mr. Duggan on her word, didn’t you?
Phalen: Yes
Lewin: But that church is owned by the Archdioceses of Boston isn’t it?
Phalen: Oh, I don’t know
Lewin: You didn’t check?
Phalen: No
On the stand, Kelly Birchall Frazier denied telling the officers that she owned the building and said that Duggan knew she “has an office in that building because I called him to buy advertising and told him the address long ago.”
Lewin: So, then, did you buy any advertising from Mr. Duggan?
Birchall Frazier: “No”
Frazier then stated that Duggan should have seen her van with her stickers and decals on it in the parking lot and therefor should have known she had an office in the church.
Duggan’s Attorney Bob Lewin handed her a photo taken the day of the engagement party showing a van in the parking lot of the church.
Lewin: Can you identify this photo?
Birchall Frazier: That’s the parking lot at St. Andrew’s Church where my office is.
Lewin: Do you recognize anything else in that photo?
Birchall Frazier: That’s my van.
Lewin: Can you point to the decals and stickers you just told the jury was on that van that Mr. Duggan was supposed to see when he pulled in?
Birchall Frazier: No
Lewin: Because in fact there are no sticker on that van are there?
Birchall Frazier: No
Attorney Lewin then showed the photo to the jury.
When Duggan took the stand in his own defense, he was grilled by the assistant district Attorney Timko who asked incredulously:
“Mr. Duggan is it really your testimony here today that you had no idea Kelly Frazier had an office in that building?”
Duggan: “Not only did I not know it then, but I still haven’t seen one shred of evidence up to this very moment that she either owns that building or that she has an office in that building. I haven’t seen a rental agreement, a lease agreement, or any evidence at all.”
Duggan turned to the jury and asked “have you?”
Witnesses also testified that when Duggan learned Frazier had a van parked in the parking lot while he was at the party, he immediately got up and left. Duggan’s attorney called 7 witnesses to the stand in his defense.
During closing arguments Attorney Lewin asked the jury: “If my client, Mr. Duggan thought for one minute he was in a building that was going to get him arrested, do you think he would have posted a photo and listed his location on Facebook?”
“Does that make sense to anyone?”
The jury came back with a unanimous verdict of not guilty in about 20 minutes.
Duggan thanked each juror as they left the courtroom.
After hugging the dozen or so friends and family members in attendance, he turned to his lawyer and said, “They only heard her speak for 5 minutes but they saw enough to know that she’s a liar and they set me up.”
Duggan has hired New Hampshire Attorney Greg Sullivan of Sullivan and Malloy to appeal the original harassment order as Frazier admitted she only took out the order because he was reporting on her.
Duggan also said that because her first two harassment order applications were already dismissed, the judge never should have given her a third bite of the apple for the same exact allegations that were dismissed twice.
“She never should have been able to file a third time with the same exact allegations that were dismissed twice. I am looking forward to getting this in front of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and having my record expunged,” Duggan said.
Duggan has long contended that the Lawrence Homeless Coordinator took out the court orders to stop him from exposing her efforts to steer $200,000 in federal grants to her own non-profit.◊
NH Judge Rules Harassment Order Can’t be Used to Stop Valley Patriot’s Exposé of Kelly Frazier
COMING: The Story The Tried to Stop You From Reading!
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