Judge extends protection for Laurie Hunter but calls scarecrows ‘political’

John Grace has gone “well beyond being a pain in the neck,” schools Superintendent Laurie Hunter told a judge. 

The Acton resident has been “tormenting” her, she said, “with his scary statements and ongoing harassment.”

Judge Michael Welsh extended a harassment prevention order against Grace after Hunter spent roughly 40 minutes testifying in Westborough District Court last month.

But Welsh questioned claims about the “scarecrows” at the center of a separate criminal case and stopped short of calling these new instances of harassment.

Alleged threats and signs

Grace had students in Acton schools and has been sparring with administrators since 2020, Hunter said, when a school psychiatrist filed a report with the Department of Children and Families.

Officers arrested Grace in 2022 after he allegedly threatened to “put two in” Hunter, according to police reports.

A jury acquitted Grace on a charge stemming from that incident, but Hunter secured civil restrictions against him in the spring of 2025 after alleged issues continued. That included when Grace allegedly stuffed a picture of a Acton Bridge article that reported his acquittal into a book and threw it onto the middle school property.

During a May 14 court appearance, Hunter described a voicemail Grace left in 2022 in which he allegedly said “I should get my head out of my a– before I couldn’t.”

Scarecrows surfaced around town with phrases including “Fire liar Hunter” and “The hatchet for Hunter” last fall.

That November, signs also started appearing stuffed in old editions of The Bridge, Hunter said. At least one included the phrase “hatchet for Hunter,” she testified.

Officials documented approximately 38 “figures” during the scarecrow saga, Hunter said.

Police arrested Grace again after they said he had placed the signs in violation of the civil restrictions, which are akin to a restraining order.

The new criminal case remains in Acton District Court, but the parties traveled to Westborough as Hunter sought to extend her protections in the jurisdiction where she lives. 

“I have spent the last year being terrified of Mr. Grace given the scarecrows that have put me in a place where I almost couldn’t attend work,” Hunter said.

She recalled receiving police escorts and said Willard Elementary School Principal Matt Lucey has attended all her court appearances “so I’m not in the courthouse alone.” 

‘Definite true threat’ 

Hunter faced cross-examination from defense attorney George King, who has argued that alleged scarecrows are protected speech.

“The hatchet for Hunter” could be a call for her to be fired, the superintendent agreed, “but I’m not sure, on the very terrifying scarecrow figures, that I interpret it that way.”

Hunter feared a violent outburst, court records show. “I put up with a lot,” she said, “and this crossed the line.”

Her attorney, Katie Mulligan, said Hunter understands that Grace “has extensive free speech rights.” As a public figure, “she basically has to deal with that,” Mulligan said. 

However, the “hatchet for Hunter” messaging constitutes a “definite true threat,” not protected speech, the attorney said.

Grace “may not be subtle,” King conceded, and “some may think he’s gone nuts.” 

His comments “may be crude and ruthless,” he contended, but they’re not illegal and Grace never made a true threat.

Judge Welsh extended Hunter’s harassment prevention order for one year, but he did so based on incidents Hunter cited in her original application — months before the scarecrows appeared. 

‘Political’ statements

As far as the “more current stuff,” Welsh said, the “political nature of the statements” made it difficult to connect to “harassment in the true sense of the statute.”

Welsh’s comments technically have no bearing on the criminal case. The civil harassment prevention order process is a separate matter, and he’s not involved in the criminal docket. 

But King said he saw Welsh’s remarks as “confirmation from the bench that the actions Mr. Grace is being charged with do not constitute a criminal offense under a harassment prevention order.” 

He’s told The Bridge he’s “ultimately confident” that a judge or jury will agree at trial. 

A school district spokesperson said in early May that Hunter “will not be commenting on this matter today or going forward.” 

Experts were divided when The Bridge contacted them about Grace’s free speech defense, and attorney David Ruscol said last year that “clearly there are some thorny issues of political speech and where the lines are.”

Grace is due back in Acton District Court on June 8, court records show.