NH AG Seeks Delay In Geno Marconi's Trial, Was Set To Start Day Before His Wife's Trial

By Nancy West, InDepth NH

Under Attorney General John Formella's name, prosecutors have asked the court to delay Ports and Harbors Director Geno Marconi's Nov. 3 trial because his wife state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi's trial is scheduled for jury selection Nov. 4 and the same two attorneys are prosecuting both cases.

Those two assistant attorneys general, Joe Fincham and Dan Jimenez, signed the motion that was filed Monday, but as is usual in court records filed by the Attorney General's Office, Formella's name is listed in capital letters above their names.

Formella is considered a key witness in Justice Hantz Marconi's trial, and the judge in her case is expected to rule on a motion by her attorneys to have Formella and his office disqualified from prosecuting her and the charges dismissed because of his close relationship with Chris Sununu, who was governor at the time.

The defense claims Formella has been biased against Hantz Marconi from the start, and say Sununu is the "star witness" in the case against her.

Geno Marconi, 73, was indicted for allegedly violating the Driver's Privacy Act by providing Neil Levesque's motor vehicle records to a third party and deleting phone messages from his personal number after he was placed on paid leave. Levesque is the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College and vice chairman of the Pease Development Authority, which oversees the Division of Ports and Harbors.

Hantz Marconi, 69, was indicted for allegedly trying to improperly influence the criminal investigation into her husband, Geno Marconi, by meeting with Sununu and speaking with Steve Duprey, chairman of the Pease Development Authority. Sununu and Duprey both told investigators Hantz Marconi did nothing illegal, according to court records.

According to her defense, Hantz Marconi told Sununu the investigation into her husband was “the result of personal, petty and or political biases, that there was no merit to allegations against or subsequent investigation into Geno Marconi,” and it was interfering with her work in the court.

Hantz Marconi's case is scheduled for Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord, and Geno Marconi's trial is scheduled for Rockingham County Superior Court in Brentwood.

They have both pleaded not guilty and remain on paid leave from their respective positions.

Fincham and Jimenez argued in the motion filed Monday: "Both cases have nearly identical deadlines approaching and will require significant pre-trial litigation and trial preparation in anticipation of trial. Some witnesses are expected to testify in both trials. Simply put, the State’s attorneys cannot try the cases, and the witnesses cannot testify, simultaneously in concurrent prosecutions in the two venues."

Geno Marconi's lawyer Richard Samdperil opposes the delay, according to the state's motion, but doesn't say why and Samdperil declined to comment on the case Tuesday.

Samdperil recently filed an objection to the state's notice that it will introduce what is called 404b evidence the court defines as "Character Evidence Not Admissible To Prove Conduct; Exceptions; Other Crimes."

"In this matter, the State does not offer evidence of criminal convictions, as the defendant has none. Rather, the State seeks to introduce other extrinsic acts for some as yet unspecified purpose," according to the objection Samdperil filed. It doesn't identify what the state wants to admit into evidence and there is nothing in the public record that identifies the "extrinsic acts."

The state recently filed its witness list in the case against Geno Marconi.

They are:

1. Stephen P. Johnson, New Hampshire Department of Justice, Concord, NH
2. Thomas A. Defosses, New Hampshire Department of Justice, Concord, NH
3. Robert J. Sullivan, New Hampshire Department of Justice, Concord, NH
4. Hawley L. Rae, New Hampshire State Police, Concord, NH
5. Stephen Duprey, Chairman-Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
6. Neil Levesque, Vice-Chairman-Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
7. Margaret Lamson, Newington, NH
8. Stephen Fournier, Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
9. Susan Parker, Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
10. Karen Conard, Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
11. Thomas Ferrini, Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
12. Mandy Huff, Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
13. Tracy Shattuck, Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
14. Paul Brean, Executive Director-Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
15. Tanya Coppeta, Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
16. Greg Siegenthaler, Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH
17. Myles Greenway, Portsmouth, NH
18. Brenda Therrien, Rochester, NH
19. Kayla Cox, York, ME
20. Timothy Rider, York, ME
21. Greg Bauer, North Hampton, NH
22. Bradley Cook, Hampton, NH
23. Sylvia Cheever, Rye, NH
24. Nathan Hanscom, Rye, NH
25. Delton Record, Rye, NH
26. Cheri Patterson, New Hampshire Fish and Game, Concord, NH
27. Keeper of the Records, Comcast, New Jersey
28. Keeper of the Records, AT&T, Dallas, TX
29. Keeper of Records, Pease Development Authority, Portsmouth, NH

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