There has been one constant since draconian policies swept across the United States in response to COVID that linger on in the hands of power-hungry tyrants, and a North Carolina man experienced this firsthand after being jailed for refusing a judge’s unscientific mandate; “It just took one person to make a stand and no one else joined me.”
(Video: Fox News)
Monday, 47-year-old Gregory Hahn, a U.S. Navy veteran and single dad showed up to court with 97 others to fulfill their civic duty in response to a jury summons. With no state or local mask mandates in place, the discretion of Harnett County Judge Charles Gilchrist was the only measure in place requiring adherence to the demonstrably questionable protective measure that Hahn refused and, as he told Fox News host Tucker Carlson, “I never thought I would show up to jury duty and end up behind bars.”
Appearing Friday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the veteran explained how the nearly 100 jury candidates had assembled in the courthouse “for about 20 to 30 minutes, shoulder-shoulder, with three-quarters of us not wearing masks” when they were told for the duration of their time in the court house they would be mandatory.
Gilchrist, who had been appointed by former Gov. Bev Purdue (D-NC), was granted discretion to mandate masks according to a joint order issued by Harnett and Lee counties on March 10, 2022 that allows “The presiding judge in each courtroom…” to decide “whether masks are required,” as reported by WRAL.
However, as Hahn noted considering the delay in issuing the order, “the virus, if there was virus out there, contaminated us anyway. So I was called when they called roll call, I made eye contact with the clerk and she said, ‘I need you to come over here for not wearing the mask.'”
The father was then brought from the orientation to Gilchrist’s courtroom where he was presiding over another case and made to stand before the judge in a room he estimated had 50 to 75 people in it. When asked by the judge to clarify why he refused to wear a mask, Hahn set forth that “there’s no state mandate; the governor lifted it May 4; there’s no signs in the courthouse that you have to wear a mask; there’s nothing.”
It was then that the judge made clear that the consequences the veteran was facing were not for refusing to wear a mask, but for contempt and when Hahn reiterated that he would not wear a mask, Gilchrist ordered, “24 hours in the Harnett County Jail.”
“It was the worst 24 hours of my life,” Hahn explained after Carlson asserted Gilchrist sounded “like a complete lunatic” who he hoped was removed from his position. “I was refused to make a phone call to my minor child who is home. I asked to be excused since I wasn’t even selected for jury duty yet; it was still orientation. He could have exempted me.”
Hahn detailed that he thought he was just going to be in a holding cell, but that he was later ordered to change into an orange uniform before being escorted to a cell with another inmate before he was later placed in isolation for the remainder of his time in jail.
“The irony of all this,” he told WRAL, “is the judge was talking to me without a mask. If safety was such a concern, I go to jail no mask requirements with inmates.”
“It just took one person to make a stand and no one else joined me. I wish there was a movie scene where more than maybe like five people stood up and joined me. It’s hard doing the right things and I told my kids…always stand up for what you believe in. Don’t be bullied and stand up for what you believe–what’s right.”
The veteran told WRAL that he has not ruled out filing a lawsuit.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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