2 Councilors Meet With Top Court, Safety And Justice Officials Following Berlin Murder-Suicide

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH

CONCORD, NH — Called by one executive councilor a "catastrophic failure" in the state's system of notifications and bail related to the July 6 domestic violence murder-suicide in Berlin and what the state needs to do to protect people in the future was the subject of a meeting in Concord Thursday.

Executive Councilors Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, and John Stephen, R-Manchester, asked for the meeting with Commissioner of Safety Robert Quinn, Attorney General John Formella and Superior Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald to go over what could be seen as current gaps in communications systems among various police departments, courts and domestic violence victims and whether more money and legislation is needed to protect people.

There are several other probes now underway as well in the murder of Marisol Fuentes Huaracha by her husband Michael Gleason Jr., who then killed himself July 6.

In a letter asking for the meeting July 17, the two councilors wrote that "while we recognize that the internal and external reviews are currently underway, we believe this discussion will provide valuable opportunities to explore additional measures for strengthening that protect our communities and ensure that law enforcement, courts and other stakeholders possess the necessary resources to respond effectively and decisively."

The top officials said there are current measures underway to help bridge gaps and others may be contemplated in the future, but they would likely require more staff and resources which would need to be approved by the legislature.

They held the first portion of their meeting in public in the Executive Council chambers and then went into executive session to privately discuss the specifics of the case that brought them to the table.

One issue is whether "real time" data could have saved 25-year-old Marisol Fuentes Huaracha who was shot and killed by her husband, Michael Gleason Jr., 50 at her place of work, La Casita Mexican Restaurant, before he took his own life.

Authorities believe he acted in violation of a restraining order while out on bail.

Kenney said Fuentes Huaracha had reported to authorities that Gleason sexually assaulted her and robbed her April 25 and she also obtained a restraining order.

Gleason was released on $5,000 bail.

It was clarified at the meeting by Ellen V. Christo, administrative judge of the NH Circuit Courts that it was not Fuentes, but her husband Gleason who had filed for divorce.

Days before the murder/suicide, a second woman asked for a restraining order against Gleason under civil law.

Councilor Kenney said he wondered about notification to the victim in such matters, why that second restraining order did not prompt the magistrate to hold a hearing to reconsider the bail order and if she even knew about it and whether that second restraining order would be considered by the courts as an elevated concern for public safety.

He also asked about record keeping in such matters and a lack of a paper trail in the meeting with the magistrate, Gleason and the prosecutor.

Fuentes Huaracha was mourned in Berlin as a well-loved member of the community and Kenney said it was just this Tuesday that her body was buried in her small town in Mexico.

On July 9 Kenney asked Gov. Kelly Ayotte to have the Attorney General look deeper into the case and how this could have been avoided.

Ayotte said she would call for that and support changes to the laws to protect victims like Fuentes Huaracha.

"The court system basically gave a bail amount that should not have happened," Kenney said.

He said when 50 percent of all murders in New Hampshire are related to domestic violence, the state has to work harder on prevention and ensuring the system protects people.

A new law just passed as part of Senate Bill 140 will create a review committee for such domestic violence matters and Kenney said he wants to make Fuentes Huaracha "the face of that committee."

Councilor Stephen, a former prosecutor, noted that an incident in his district in February was also troubling involving the current bail system.

The same court magistrate that let Gleason out on bail, Stephanie Johnson, also ordered the release of Kyle Bisson, who was accused of stabbing a Manchester man outside a store on Elm Street during the daylight hours, shocking many.

Johnson is not sitting on any similar cases during a review called for by MacDonald, who has assigned two judges to look at the matter.

Councilor Stephen said the "system failed" Fuentes Huaracha and the case screams for responsiveness.

"This is a deep, global issue of violence that affects...people in New Hampshire each and every day and the system cannot fail," he said.

Stephen said the goal of the meeting was to have a collaborative discussion and to begin to work on concrete solutions to prevent future tragedies "to save lives when possible."

He also called this an example of a "catastrophic failure" in the state's systems.

Commissioner Quinn outlined the statewide information system state police use to manage information which he called the "J-One Program."

This information portal or records management system is used by 83 percent of the state's communities or 224 cities and towns who are connected and can share information, he said.

Some, he said, are not fully integrated but the goal is to get 100 percent of all law enforcement agencies onboard electronically, noting the program is voluntary.

There have been 40 new agencies added since 2020, he said.

"It can all be accomplished and I think it is going in a forward direction," Quinn said.

He told councilors they will continue to see grant requests and that this is "important to give communities that don't have it the ability to get connected."

MacDonald said he and his staff were at the meeting recognizing the "full gravity of the situation."

He said if there are areas the courts can improve "we will participate vigorously."

His presentation was focused on the state's bail notification system.

MacDonald noted there are about 36,000 bail orders issued each year.

He differentiated between civil and criminal cases with the latter involving stalking and assault. "Those bail orders are entered into the system and made available through SPOTS to law enforcement...by the end of a court business day," he said.

MacDonald acknowledged that "this is a paper based system. Judges are filling them out by hand."

Could that be fixed, asked Kenney.

The chief justice responded "potentially, down the road."

MacDonald said the state's bail system is "firmly rooted in the 18th century. We are a paper based system."

The second issue is bail is often decided by bail commissioners who work 24/7 and there may be connectivity issues and technology that is not yet compatible, MacDonald said.

Kenney asked why some of the more than $1 billion in post COVID-19 federal funds were not used to create that system.

There was no answer to that but Chief Justice MacDonald said there is a report due in September of a study of taking a different approach or combining a paper system and analog system, but it would likely, depending on the scenario, require significantly more staff and Stephen noted that would be a call to be made by the legislature.

Stephen said "I'm feeling like we are back in the dark ages...why aren't we connected like the hospital system" in terms of data sharing?

He noted technology has become a lot less expensive than it was in the 1980s.

Formella said when he meets with police chiefs the number one message he sends them is "if you are having challenges on resources please tell me. We want to know what challenges they are seeing."

The meeting delved into domestic violence training and whether there was adequate training.

Judge Ellen V. Christo, administrative judge of the NH Circuit Court System said there is ongoing and extensive training in this area, all the time.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.