The accused judge of the Supreme Court of the NH claims that the Attorney General cannot prosecute her impartially

“Formella and his subordinate attorneys should not have tried this case before the grand jury and should not prosecute it now,” the filing states, asking that Hantz Marconi’s seven-count charge be rejected entirely.

A spokesperson for Sununu did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Hantz Marconi is charged with felony and misdemeanor charges for allegedly telling Sununu on or about June 6 that an investigation into her husband, Geno J. Marconi, the long-serving director of the New Hampshire Port Authority, was meritless and needed to be concluded quickly because she had withdrawn from important current affairs.

The core accusation is that she wanted to interfere with a criminal investigation conducted by Formella’s office. But her attorneys, Richard Guerriero and Jonathan Kotlier, argue in Wednesday’s filing that the indictment does not relate to a secret after-hours meeting between Justice and the governor.

“Essentially, Formella alleges that an official openly visited another official to discuss the implications of a pending matter over which neither had any direct authority,” they wrote, adding that Hantz Marconi the Chief Justice said about her desire for a meeting before securing a spot on the governor’s official agenda, after which she met with Sununu in the presence of his legal advisor.

“The meeting was open and documented in several ways — not exactly the usual route to corruption,” Guerriero and Kotlier wrote.

Additionally, the defense team claims that Formella’s office has not alleged that Hantz Marconi asked the governor a specific “question.”

Julian Jefferson, an attorney who worked for the New Hampshire Public Defender for more than a decade and now teaches at the University of New Hampshire Law School, told The Boston Globe that “an actual invitation to do somethingappears to be a crucial part of the crimes Hantz Marconi is accused of.

In addition to the alleged conflict regarding his current employment, Formella has “personal interests” that create a conflict that justifies his disqualification, defense attorneys allege, noting that Formella served as a private attorney for Sununu and his companies and contributed to Sununu’s political campaigns worked. and served as legal counsel to Sununu prior to his 2021 appointment as attorney general.

“To say the least, Formella’s career and success are tied to his support of Sununu,” they wrote.

“From an objective standpoint,” they added, “there is a reasonable probability that Formella’s personal interests with respect to Sununu will materially limit Formella’s ability to be an impartial and fair prosecutor. Therefore, Formella cannot handle this case.”

Defense attorneys also argued that Sununu has “unique powers” ​​over the New Hampshire Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Unit because it was created by executive order, not law. This could have consequences for the impartiality of the lawyers charged with prosecuting Hantz Marconi, they argued.

When the charges were announced, Formella said the decision to indict a current Supreme Court justice “not made lightly.” His spokesman said Thursday that the DOJ will respond to the latest filing in court.

While she maintains her innocence in the ongoing criminal case, Hantz Marconi provisionally agreed to the suspension of her law license. Her four colleagues at the Supreme Court have withdrawn from a disciplinary case, and five deputy judges issued an order She will suspend her driver’s license on Thursday.

According to court records, the criminal case against Hantz Marconi is pending in Merrimack Superior Court before Judge Martin P. Honigberg.

A Rockingham County grand jury has indicted Geno Marconi on witness tampering and other charges, and Bradley J. Cook, chairman of the Ports and Harbors Advisory Council, on perjury and false swearing.

Geno Marconi, who maintains his innocence, is accused of providing confidential motor vehicle information about one person to another. Cook is accused of lying about it.

Their case is pending before Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Andrew R. Schulman.

---

Steven Porter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @reporterporter.