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New Hampshire
Ex-trooper who texted arrestees from his personal phone has credibility issue, top N.H. court rules – The Boston Globe
A former New Hampshire State Police trooper who got caught using his personal cellphone to exchange text messages with people who had been arrested should have his name included on the state’s list of law enforcement officers with known credibility issues, the New Hampshire Supreme Court said in an order Tuesday.
The trooper, who is identified only as John Doe, had arrested a woman then contacted her later that night so she could retrieve a purse she had left in the back of his cruiser, according to court records.
When confronted by his supervisor in June 2018, the trooper said he had never done that before, but the supervisor later learned the trooper had a lengthy text exchange with a different arrestee in May 2018, according to the records.
An internal investigation concluded the trooper had been untruthful. He was fired, and his name was added to the Exculpatory Evidence Schedule, formerly known as the Laurie List, which prosecutors use to keep track of officers whose employment files contain information that may need to be disclosed to criminal defendants.
The trooper filed a lawsuit in 2021 arguing that his name should be removed from the list because the records at issue in this case didn’t constitute “potentially exculpatory” evidence. But the trial court dismissed his claims, ruling that he had lied during the course of an official investigation and should be on the list.
The trial court denied the trooper’s motion for reconsideration in 2022, and the Supreme Court’s 4-0 order on Tuesday affirmed that denial.
The trooper claimed he had forgotten about the May 2018 text messages due to a disability, so he wasn’t actually lying when he told his supervisor in June 2018 that he hadn’t texted others previously. And he claimed he had falsely admitted to being untruthful because his military training taught him to accept responsibility when confronted by superiors.
But the justices ruled this is the sort of situation that belongs on the Exculpatory Evidence Schedule, even if the trooper’s false testimony was unintentional.
“Regardless of the justifications offered by the plaintiff, his conduct warrants inclusion on the EES because it reflects on his ‘general credibility,’” they ruled, noting that a criminal defendant could feasibly use this incident in a future case to question his trustworthiness.
This ruling was the latest in a series from the New Hampshire Supreme Court as the justices grapple with a cresting wave of litigation over which types of conduct warrant placement on the list and which do not.
Since the court released decisions in September and October that help to clarify application of the relevant statutes, the justices have issued six additional orders in John Doe cases from across the state.
Most of the recent rulings, but not all, have gone in favor of the officers challenging their placements on the list. The justices ruled last week, for example, that a trooper who lied to a tribunal about an email should remain on the list.
That case and Tuesday’s ruling highlight the reason the EES exists: If an officer was previously caught providing false information in an official proceeding, then prosecutors may need to disclose that to criminal defendants. The list is a tool to help ensure that happens.
This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
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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