Pauli Halstead, it's great that you care about and defend Matthew Coulter. However, your attempts to cover up, deny, or change the facts of his bad behavior will not help him or our community. While your intentions appear to be honorable, it is time to stop your efforts to promote Matthew Coulter as a victim, which he is not.
The facts are available to anyone who is interested, and all of the following facts are documented in the public record.
1. Matthew Coulter's first criminal record was recorded here in Nevada County in 1981.
2. Over the past 43 years, Matthew Coulter has 45 lawsuits on the public record, all filed in Nevada County.
3. Matthew Coulter's record includes (4) felony charges, (6) evictions due to mental health issues, and dozens of restraining orders filed against him by local residents (both public and private) (including one I filed against him to stop him from interfering with a local construction project). Matthew Coulter's record even includes a restraining order filed against him by his mother. What must I do to seek legal protection from my mother?
Matthew Coulter clearly has some unusual issues. Your defense of him and painting him as the victim will likely make the problem worse and put you in the role of accomplice when someone is badly hurt. That is not in your best interest or Matthew Coulter’s. Why do you ignore the facts and blur the real issues? You continue to claim that Matthew Coulter, who came to our construction site that was fenced off for over a year and had no no trespassing signs, is the victim of what happened after. Your assertion that the recording from a distant camera is more accurate than the video recorded by Mark Nelson from 5 to 10 feet away speaks for itself. The video, which I have watched many times, clearly shows Mark Olson repeatedly asking Matthew to leave his property. Matthew’s response was to yell “dammit” at Mark Olson, until he finally shoved his phone up Mark’s nose. When Mark slapped the phone out of Matthew’s hand, Matthew pounced on Mark and bit him in the neck. The video stops as they fall to the ground and Matthew grabs the box cutter from his hip. During this time, Mark Nelson drops the camera and steps forward to take the box cutter from Matthew's hand. This box cutter is in the possession of GVPD and has Coulter's DNA and fingerprints on it. Despite these facts, you continue to insist that Matthew Coulter is the victim and that our employees are the perpetrators. Does Coulter being in prison for the murder or serious injury of Mark Olson convince you that Matthew is in serious trouble and needs help? Let's stop this before something really bad happens. Matthew's interactions with police have increased dramatically over the last few years. His behavior has clearly gotten worse. Yet you and Matthew both paint him as the victim and paint GVPD and the City of Grass Valley as bad people with a grudge against him. It is entirely reasonable to assume that the City is willing to continue to put resources into this issue to protect its citizens, business owners, construction workers and city employees from dangerous and life-threatening situations caused by an obviously unstable Matthew Coulter. You are on the wrong side of this issue and that is not good for anyone.
In addition to this, there is documented evidence that Matthew stalked and photographed underage girls from hidden locations. This is not part of the current lawsuit, so you are defending this as legitimate? That is not true.
Your headline states that Matthew Coulter has been acquitted by the Court of Appeals. In fact, the Court of Appeals ruled on the procedural matters, not on the facts regarding Matthew's repeated violations of the restraining order.
If you truly care about Matthew and our community, you would stop obfuscating what is happening and do something to help Matthew before something terrible happens. Get him help. Help Matthew go from a threat to an asset to our community. What you are doing right now is wrong, it is encouraging bad behavior, and it will not be tolerated.
Keoni Allen is a longtime Grass Valley contractor and owner of Sierra Foothills Construction Company, the builder of many significant local projects.
