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New Hampshire
Prosecutors can keep handling their case against N.H. Supreme Court justice, judge rules – The Boston Globe
“Unlike private attorneys, government attorneys are presumptively entrusted to be impartial unless a defendant can demonstrate actual bias,” Honigberg wrote.
Hantz Marconi, 68, is accused of trying to interfere with a criminal investigation into her husband, Geno J. Marconi, 73, the long-serving director of the New Hampshire Port Authority. She faces felony and misdemeanor charges for a conversation she had with Governor Christopher T. Sununu on June 6, when she allegedly said the investigation into her husband was meritless and needed to wrap up quickly.
Although she argues the meeting was entirely above-board, Hantz Marconi was indicted on felony charges of attempting to commit improper influence and criminal solicitation of improper influence. She was also charged with making an inappropriate request in April of the chairperson for the Pease Development Authority, which oversees the port authority.
Her husband has been indicted on charges of felony witness tampering and obstructing government administration. He’s accused of providing confidential motor vehicle records about one person to another in early April. He’s also facing misdemeanor charges that he falsified physical evidence and obstructed government administration in late April by deleting one or more voicemails.
After her indictment, Hantz Marconi’s attorneys argued that Formella could not be an impartial prosecutor, given his closeness to Sununu, a “very powerful and important witness” in this case. They argued Formella has conflicts stemming from his current official duties and from his prior roles representing Sununu in his personal capacity. They asked the court to either dismiss all the charges or have a special prosecutor appointed.
Honigberg, however, rejected their argument with a 15-page order highlighting material differences between past cases and the one at hand.
“Under the Supreme Court’s precedents, a defendant must do more than speculate about a potential conflict but rather demonstrate that one is likely to occur,” he wrote, noting that Hantz Marconi will be able to present evidence in the future if she discovers “that she has suffered harm from an actual, not speculative conflict.”
Honigberg wrote that Hantz Marconi’s attorneys had advanced a legal theory that would effectively have courts disqualify the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office from prosecuting any criminal case in which a member of the state’s executive branch would need to serve as a witness. That theory “runs counter to the statutory duties imposed on the Attorney General and is not supported by the Supreme Court’s precedents,” he wrote.
In a statement, Hantz Marconi’s defense attorneys — Richard Guerriero, Jonathan Kotlier, and Oliver Bloom — said they disagree with Honigberg’s decision and could appeal it at some point in the future.
“However, this was a preliminary issue arising in the earliest stages of the case,” they said. “Rest assured, we will continue to fight the Attorney General’s accusations on every lawful basis until Justice Hantz Marconi is vindicated.”
In fact, the defense team has already queued up Hantz Marconi’s next gambit to have her indictment dismissed in its entirety. In a filing on Nov. 8, her attorneys introduced an alternative argument that her alleged conduct was protected by the First Amendment, the constitutional right of redress, and judicial immunity.
Honigberg wrote in his order on Tuesday that he anticipates the prosecutors will file a response to the Nov. 8 motion within the next 15 days.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on Honigberg’s order.
Hantz Marconi, who was appointed by Sununu to the state’s highest court in 2017, faces up to three and a half years to seven years in state prison for each of the two felony charges. She also faces up to 12 months in jail for each of five misdemeanors.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon, Sununu pushed back on recent news coverage and said Formella has handled these cases independently.
“John Formella goes to the nth degree to ensure firewalls are in place, what is transmitted between the Justice Department and either my office or legislators, elected officials, or the public is always above board,” he said. “That’s the best part of John Formella.”
Sununu said he thinks a recent report by New Hampshire Public Radio was “complete garbage.” The report, which noted that Sununu met with Formella and members of the Pease Development Authority board on April 16, said the closed-door gathering “raises new questions about the role Sununu played in Marconi’s removal from office and the ensuing criminal charges.”
Sununu countered that the April 16 meeting was when Formella “let us know” that an investigation into Marconi was underway. He said he has respected Formella’s independence throughout the process.
“I keep myself very apart from things, especially in the attorney general’s office. I respect the attorney general’s role,” Sununu said.
“To this day, you know what I know about those indictments? Exactly what you have read in the indictments,” he added. “I read them on the same day you read them with the public. I didn’t get a heads up on any of this because it doesn’t concern me.”
The potential witnesses in Marconi’s case include members of the Pease Development Authority board, staffers with the New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors, and Bradley J. Cook of Hampton, who was also indicted on felony perjury and misdemeanor false swearing charges, according to court records.
Cook, 73, allegedly testified before a grand jury in September that he hadn’t communicated with Marconi or received any materials from Marconi related to a pier use permit for “N.L.,” when in fact he had, according to the indictments.
One of the potential witnesses is Neil Levesque, vice-chairman of the Pease Development Authority board and executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.
Details are sparse in the charging documents, so it’s still unclear what exactly sparked Marconi’s alleged misconduct and the subsequent investigation. He has been on administrative leave since April, and Justice Hantz Marconi has been on administrative leave since July. Their attorneys contend they are innocent.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter. Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
What employers are getting wrong, and how to fix it before it becomes a claim
New Hampshire’s employment law landscape heading into 2026 may not be dramatically different from last year, but the real risks lie in implementation missteps. From the initial setting of wages, to calculating and distributing wages, employers will likely find a specific statute and/or labor regulation governing the transaction. Failure to follow these detailed wage and hour laws can result in significant back wages and other penalties being imposed by the state or federal Department of Labor following an audit. Fortunately, however, this area of employment law is relatively easy to master, once you are familiar with the basics.
Notice compliance
One of the most common pitfalls for employers in New Hampshire is misunderstanding the wage and hour notice requirements under RSA 275 and the related New Hampshire Department of Labor Administrative Rules.
At the time of hire, employers must notify employees in writing of their rate of pay and the day and place of payment. This notice is traditionally delivered to employees by way of an offer letter or some sort of “New Hire Rate of Pay” form. (A sample form is available from the New Hampshire Department of Labor website.) What surprises most employers, however, is that Lab. 803.03(f)(6) also requires employers to request and obtain their employees’ signatures on this written notification of wages, and employers must keep a copy of the signed written notification of wages on file. Further, employers must notify employees in writing during the course of employment of any changes to wages or day of pay prior to such changes taking effect, and the employer must obtain the employee’s signature on this subsequent notification as well. (See RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)
Employers are further required to notify employees in writing, or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to employees, of:
• employment practices and policies with regard to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits.
• deductions made from the employee’s payroll check, for each period such deductions are made.
• information regarding the deductions allowed from wage payments under state law. (RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)
Policies regarding vacation and sick leave should inform employees whether or not the employer will “cash out” unused time at year end or at the end of employment, and if so, under what terms. Again, if any changes are made to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits during the course of employment (all of which are considered “wages” under New Hampshire law), employers must request and obtain their employees’ signatures on the written notification of the change, and must keep a copy of the signed form on file. (Lab. 803.03.) Importantly, notification by way of pay stub alone is not sufficient, and, these requirements apply to both increases and decreases in pay.
Two-hour minimum (reporting pay)
Another frequently overlooked obligation is New Hampshire’s two-hour minimum reporting pay requirement. Under RSA 275:43-a, non-exempt employees who report to work but are sent home early must generally be paid for at least two hours. Weather-related closures, client cancellations or operational slowdown days can trigger this rule. Employers should also note that the New Hampshire Department of Labor currently applies this law to remote-based employees. Consequently, employees who “report to work” at an employer’s request from a home office may likewise have a right to two hours of pay, depending on the circumstances.
Salaried vs. hourly employees
Misclassification of employees as exempt from overtime remains a significant source of compliance exposure. The position’s job duties — not the titles or label such as “salaried” — determine whether an employee qualifies for an overtime exemption.
Employers, particularly in nonprofits, health care and small businesses, unintentionally misapply exempt classifications to roles such as administrative staff, office managers, executive assistants, program coordinators or hybrid jobs that involve significant non-exempt tasks. Over time, as organizational needs evolve and employees take on broader responsibilities, job duties can drift outside of an exemption’s scope.
Best practice is to periodically review job descriptions and actual job duties to ensure continued compliance with exemption criteria, particularly following any significant restructuring or job redesigns.
Peg O’Brien is chair of McLane Middleton’s Employment Law Practice Group. She can be reached at margaret.o’brien@mclane.com.
Local News
“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” said the family of the victim.
A new photo has been released of the victim in a nearly 30-year-long unsolved murder case, in the hope of finding any new potential witnesses in the cold case, New Hampshire officials said.
“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” the family of Rosalie Miller said in a press release. “We miss her and want to give her peace.”
Miller was last seen on December 8, 1996 at her apartment in Manchester. At the time of her disappearance, Miller had plans on meeting friends in the Auburn, New Hampshire area, officials said.
Her body was found on January 20, 1997 in a partially wooded spot on a residential lot along the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn, officials said in the release.
The autopsy report declared Miller’s death a homicide by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, N.H. officials wrote.
As part of a new effort to garner public help with the case, an “uncirculated” photo of Miller, 36, is being distributed “in hopes it may jog the memory of someone who saw or spoke with her in the winter of 1996,” Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall announced on behalf of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit in a joint press release.
Investigators are especially hoping to talk to anyone who was in contact with Miller in December of 1996 or anyone “who may have seen her in the vicinity of the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn during that time,” officials said in the release.
“We are releasing this new photograph today because we believe someone out there has information, perhaps a detail they thought was insignificant at the time, that could be the key to solving this case and bringing justice for Rosalie and those who loved her,” Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, New Hampshire Cold Case Unit Chief said in the release.
The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit encourages anyone with any amount of information to contact the group at [email protected] or (603) 271-2663.
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