[B]ENNINGTON — The Bennington Police Department has investigated all complaints filed by Rep. Ruqaiyah “Kiah” Morris and her husband “appropriately and efficiently,” and has not found enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime, Police Chief Paul Doucette said in a statement released over the weekend.
The statement came in response to claims from Morris, a Bennington Democrat who is black, that law enforcement shrugged off her latest complaints of racially motivated threats and online harassment, which she said compelled her to step away from the race for re-election in November.
“In response to the allegations concerning the Bennington Police Department failing to assist Representative Ruqaiyah Morris, I feel it necessary to explain the position of the [department] and all of our efforts to assist Representative Morris and her family,” Doucette said in a release issued Sept. 1. “All of the complaints filed by Representative Morris and her husband James have been investigated appropriately and efficiently.”
Morris ended her campaign for a third term in the Vermont House on Aug. 24, citing continued harassment by people apparently associated with white supremacist groups. The local Democratic committee on Aug. 29 chose Select Board member Jim Carroll to take Morris’ spot on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Morris’ comments and Doucette’s response were the latest developments related to a series of online harassment, threats and incidents dating back over two years and across two election cycles. In his statement, the chief said he wanted to provide a timeline of the complaints to police from Morris, and the BPD responses, beginning in the fall of 2016.
Morris said during a Vermont Public Radio interview that aired Aug. 30 that she and her husband, James Lawton, sought counsel and support from law enforcement after recent incidents, “but what was just happening was nothing, to be quite frank … it was a shoulder shrug and a ‘Good luck.’”
In the interview with VPR’s Jane Lindholm, Morris did not specify whether she was referring to local police or others in the criminal justice system, but she went on to commend Attorney General TJ Donovan for opening an investigation into her complaints and asking Vermont State Police computer specialists for assistance.
In addition to online threats and harassment, Morris told VPR, “We had propaganda being left underneath the door of the Democratic Party. I had a home invasion, vandalism, even the woods near my house where we’d go and walk frequently as a family had swastikas painted all over the trees there.”
She was apparently referring to the first series of threatening incidents reported in 2016, and did not say specifically what threats she had received this year that pushed her to leave politics. Morris has declined multiple requests for interviews in recent days. Her husband directed reporters to her lawyer.
Going back to 2016
Morris’ reports of harassment and threats date to early August 2016, following a Twitter post by Max Misch, of Bennington, along with a cartoon caricature of a black person, had the caption, “S—, I be representin dem white m—f— of Bennington, gnome sayin?”
That tweet was directed at Morris in response to the news that she had won the Democratic primary in her bid for re-election as the Bennington-2-2 representative, and the message was tweeted at Morris.
Morris then posted a screenshot of the image to her Facebook page, sparking an outcry in Vermont political circles. Misch said he was pointing out the “absurdity” of a black woman representing a overwhelmingly white district.
The online harassment did not stop there. Morris said later that online threats were directed at her from apparent members of white supremacist or neoNazi groups from outside the area.
In November 2016, Morris filed for a temporary no-contact order against Misch. In an affidavit, she wrote that Misch had targeted her online again in October. Judge William Cohen issued a year-long order in Vermont Superior Court Bennington Civil Division on Dec. 1, 2016.
Misch, now 35, of Bennington, was ordered to have no contact with Morris or her family, and to stay 300 feet away from them and their residence. Misch represented himself in the civil proceedings, calling it “a travesty of justice” at the time.
Police describe responses
In his statement, Doucette said he and town police first discussed perceived threats and harassment with the couple in September 2016. He said Morris and her husband later filed new complaints, beginning in July 2018.
Doucette said that in the first instance, “Neither James nor Representative Morris wished to file a police report at the time and asked that I be aware of the perceived threats.”
He added that he passed the information on to other officers and directed staff to increase patrols in the area of the couple’s home.
In October 2016, Doucette said, Morris and Lawton filed a complaint against an individual and the matter was investigated, but “there was not sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges forward.”
He said there were no further complaints to the BPD until July of this year. From that time until Morris’ withdrawal, Doucette described a series of what seemed to be miscommunications between the couple and police, or differing responses to the department from Morris and Lawton.
He said a friend of Morris’ contacted him on July 27, 2018, to say she “was upset with me because I failed to return a call to her husband, James Lawton. In fact I never received a telephone call from Lawton nor had he left any messages for me.”
Doucette said he then telephoned Morris and spoke with her. He said Morris reported renewed threats and said Lawton “would like to talk with me.” But once again, Doucette said he did not receive a call or message from Lawton.
“Officer Michael Sharhson made several attempts to contact James Lawton,” Doucette continued. “Officer Sharhson was able to speak with James about threats and possible hacking of his computer. Representative Morris emailed screen shots of information directly to me, and I forwarded the information to the investigating officer. Officer Sharshon completed a report and sent the information to the Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office for review.”
Computers held
Two computers were taken from the couple’s home this summer as evidence and held at the Bennington Police Department, the chief said, adding that the investigating officer had Morris “sign a consent to search the computers but she did not provide the passcodes.”
Morris “advised the investigation officer she would speak with her husband and then contact the officer with the passcodes,” he said. “Several days passed and Representative Morris failed to provide the passcodes.”
Doucette said he then received a call from the Attorney General’s Office inquiring about the computers.
“The computers were still in the Bennington Police Department evidence room as we did not have the passcodes,” he said. “The investigating officer went back to the residence and obtained the passcodes from Representative Morris.”
But Doucette added, “Within a few hours of the passcodes being provide by Representative Morris, James Lawton presented himself at the Bennington Police Department requesting the immediate return of the computers. The computers were not returned to him.”
Doucette said the investigating officer then drove the computers to Waterbury and delivered them to the Vermont State Police for analysis.
It was not clear from the chief’s statement exactly when the two computers were taken from the residence to the department. It also was unclear at what point the AG’s office called to inquire about the computers. Reached on Wednesday afternoon, Doucette said he could not comment further at this time.
“The Vermont State Police are now handling the investigation and I will not release any further information until the investigation is complete,” he said. “I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.”
State’s attorney involvement
Bennington State’s Attorney Erica Marthage and Doucette conversed about the case several times, the chief said in his statement, and they “felt the case best be handled by the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.
“At the time I spoke with [Marthage], we only had the information from James Lawton and screen shots of information provided by Representative Morris. I didn’t feel there was sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime.”
Doucette said he and Marthage “conversed with a representative from the Vermont Attorney General’s Office,” the the statement does not say when that occurred (Attorney General TJ Donovan announced on Aug. 27 that he would investigate the situation).
Marthage said via email on Wednesday that she received the paperwork about the complaints from Bennington police on Aug. 1.
“After reviewing it, I started a conversation with a representative from the AGs office on August 2nd. I sent the case review to them and we discussed further steps. It is common for the AGs office to assist local law enforcement with forensic analysis of computers since hardly any local departments have a computer forensic analyst,” she wrote.
Doucette also said that, like many municipal law enforcement agencies, the BPD “does not have a computer forensics investigation unit. The computers had to be sent to the Vermont State Police and that was accomplished once the passcodes were obtained.”
On Aug. 31, he said, he met with an investigator with the state police and provided all of the reports and documents the BPD had pertaining to this investigation, the same documents that were provided to the State’s Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.
Attorney Robert Appel, of Burlington, said in an email Friday that he has been retained to represent Morris and was advising her and Lawton to have no further comment to news media at this time.
Appel is a former Vermont defender general and former executive director of the state’s Human Rights Commission.
Doucette said in issuing his statement that he was providing a timeline of his department’s investigations concerning Morris at the request of Town Manager Stuart Hurd and that he had consulted with Marthage.
