Paul Blackmer may die in prison

Senior Class - Week 38. Serving Time

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/502573-196/senior-class---week-38.-serving-time.html

December 28, 2009
by Corey Perrine

It's quite possible Paul Blackmer will die in prison. However, he's
determined to appeal his case after being convicted of conspiracy to
possess marijuana with intent to sell. His sentence? Fifty years.
He'd never been convicted of a crime prior to his arrest in 1994. He
insists he had no such intentions with the illegal substance that
fateful day in Laconia. "This whole thing has gone on because the
state of New Hampshire is bound and determined to cover that evidence
up. Because if I get it, they are looking at malicious prosecution …
my unlawful imprisonment."

Blackmer was raised in Somerville, Mass., and split his time between
there and Lake Winnipesaukee as a child growing up. "I had a terrific
youth," Blackmer said. "I was an athlete and sort of a legendary
playground figure." He tried to gain a football scholarship to play
for the University of New Hampshire and was advised by a UNH coach to
attend Plymouth State University and get at least a 2.0 and then
transfer. Blackmer took the advice except he never transferred. He
loved his life there so much he took to a rock band and that led to
getting involved in the politics of the Vietnam War. He joined
Students for a Democratic Society and that led to being his
"involved" as a Weatherman, an underground organization known for its
protests against the U.S. government in the 1960s. Blackmer never
graduated from PSU.

Blackmer made friends along the way, and one was Jorge Flores from
Tijuana, Mexico. Flores allegedly sent Blackmer's girlfriend a
package, 48.2 pounds of marijuana, and that's when his world
unraveled. "I'm directly responsible for being here. I'm not blaming
them (Mexicans) at all," Blackmer said. "They were trying to make
some money, and they were disappointed in me simply because I would
not cooperate with them."

Blackmer has been "allegedly involved," and previously "allegedly
shut operations down," but never convicted of the same crime until
his sentence in 1997. "The FBI claims they lost me for 17 years,"
Blackmer said. "J. Edgar Hoover went to his grave convinced I'm a
Weatherman. I'm a kid out of Somerville, Mass., out of the
playgrounds. I have a 186 IQ; it's nothing to hold against me, that I
can think of. They don't like me, not one bit. And I don't like them
one bit either." Blackmer is up for parole in November 2026; he will
be 92. He plans to appeal.
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View multimedia of Blackmer at nashuatelegraph.com/multimedia. If you
have a friend or family member, 65 or older, with a story to tell or
an elderly issue that needs to be told, please contact Corey Perrine
at cperrine@nashuatelegraph.com or 546-5366.

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