State Rep. Manny Espitia

CONCORD – The state Attorney General’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s office have deemed there was no criminal conduct in online posts from a white nationalist group toward state Rep. Manny Espitia, (D-Nashua).

Espitia was targeted in an online attack in May after he posted on social media about graffiti with white supremacist message he saw along the Rail Trail in Nashua. Those messages included, “keep New England white,” defend New England,” and “death to Israel.”

“For folks that think we live in a ‘color blind society’ you’re absolutely wrong,” Espitia wrote in a tweet that accompanied his photo of the slurs. “This was done in my district in a mostly Latino neighborhood.”

The group NSC-131 responded to Espitia in a post on a platform known as Telegram.

“Anyone with a name like Manny Espitia, state rep or not, has no moral right to throw shade at any true (White) Nationalist New Hampshirite. You have no right to be here, you’re an occupier here and the days of these types of trampling on New England are coming to an end.”

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella wrote a letter to Espitia and said while the statement is offensive and hurtful, “the vague nature of the statement places it within the protection of the Free Speech clauses of the New Hampshire and United States Constitutions.”

Formella wrote, “Based on review, the Office has concluded that the statement at issue does not rise to the level of criminal conduct further below.”

Pursuant to the relevant portion of RSA 631:4-a, “the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that ‘the person threatens bodily injury or threatens to commit any other crime against a sitting member of the general court…for the purpose of influencing such official’s action or in retaliation for action taken as a part of an official governmental duty.'”

“The statement made by the poster does not directly threaten bodily injury nor was it a threat to commit any other crime. As a result, the State cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a violation of RSA 631:4-a occurred,” Formella wrote.

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