Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

The defendant, Gabriel Chalpin, was convicted of first-degree assault, enhanced for manifesting exceptional cruelty or depravity, and second-degree assault for recklessly causing bodily injury under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life. The incidents occurred on February 2, 2018, when Chalpin assaulted the victim, his romantic partner, causing multiple injuries including collapsed lungs, fractured ribs, a broken nose, and a fractured spine.The Superior Court (Brown, J.) held a jury trial in March 2019, where the jury convicted Chalpin on multiple counts of first and second-degree assault. The court sentenced him on two counts of enhanced first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault – extreme indifference. Chalpin moved to dismiss all but one charge based on double jeopardy, which the court initially denied. However, after further motions, the court reconsidered and found that the events could be divided into two separate assaults, reducing the convictions to one count of enhanced first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault – extreme indifference.The Supreme Court of New Hampshire reviewed the case and concluded that the trial court's jury instruction on the definition of "cruelty" was sustainable. The court also found sufficient evidence to sustain both the enhanced first-degree assault and second-degree assault – extreme indifference convictions. Additionally, the Supreme Court determined that there was sufficient evidence to support four separate assault convictions, reversing the trial court's unit of prosecution ruling. The case was remanded for entry of the four convictions and reinstatement of the original sentences. View "State v. Chalpin" on Justia Law

The defendant, Avram M. Niebling, was arrested for driving under the influence. During the arrest, the officer conducted a pat-down search and removed a wallet from the defendant's pocket. The wallet was not searched at the scene but was placed in an evidence bag and taken to the police station. At the station, during the booking process, the officers counted the cash in the wallet and looked inside for the defendant's driver's license. In doing so, they discovered two white pills identified as oxycodone. The defendant was subsequently charged with possession of a controlled drug.The defendant moved to suppress the evidence obtained from the wallet, arguing that there was no applicable exception to a warrantless search of the wallet during the booking process. The Superior Court denied the motion, finding that the search of the wallet constituted a search incident to arrest. The defendant appealed, arguing that the warrantless search of his wallet was neither conducted incident to arrest nor conducted pursuant to a neutral inventory policy, and was therefore unreasonable and unconstitutional.The Supreme Court of New Hampshire affirmed the lower court's decision. The court held that a search that may be made at the time and place of arrest also may be legally conducted when the arrested individual later arrives at a place of detention. The court found that because the defendant's wallet was seized during a lawful arrest, the officer was permitted to search it at the police station during the booking process without a warrant. The court distinguished this case from others where the property was searched at the officer's convenience after passage of appreciable time and was at all times under the exclusive control of the arresting officer. In this case, the arresting officer obtained possession of the defendant's wallet during a lawful arrest and looked inside it at the time of the defendant's booking at the police station while the defendant was present. Therefore, the court held that the trial court did not err in determining that the search of the wallet fell within the search incident to arrest exception to the warrant requirement. View "State v. Niebling" on Justia Law

The case involves Chasrick Heredia, who was convicted on three counts of accomplice to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of witness tampering. The charges stemmed from an incident where Heredia and another man, Matthew Hugle, provided alcohol to three underage girls who had run away from a substance abuse treatment facility. The girls later reported that they had been sexually assaulted by the two men. While in jail, Heredia wrote an encoded letter to Hugle, asking him to delete a video related to the incident, leading to additional charges of tampering with witnesses and solicitation to commit falsifying physical evidence.The Superior Court found Heredia guilty on the three charges of accomplice to intentional contribution to the delinquency of a minor, one count of witness tampering, and one count of solicitation to commit falsifying physical evidence. However, he was acquitted on charges of aggravated felonious sexual assault and felonious sexual assault.On appeal to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, Heredia challenged his convictions for witness tampering and accomplice to contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The Supreme Court vacated the witness tampering conviction on double jeopardy grounds, agreeing with Heredia that his separate convictions and sentences for both witness tampering and solicitation to commit falsifying physical evidence violated the prohibition against double jeopardy under the State Constitution. The court also reversed the three convictions for accomplice to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, finding that the evidence was insufficient to prove those charges. The case was remanded for consideration of resentencing. View "State v. Heredia" on Justia Law

The case revolves around the defendant, Teagan David Collins, who was convicted on two counts of criminal threatening and one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct. The charges stemmed from an incident at a nightclub where Collins was asked to leave due to his behavior. After leaving, Collins returned to the nightclub with a firearm to retrieve his debit card and jacket. The head of security testified that Collins revealed his firearm and made threatening remarks. Collins, however, denied these allegations and claimed he only revealed his firearm later when he felt threatened by two nightclub employees following him.The Superior Court convicted Collins, rejecting his request for a self-defense instruction to the jury. The court reasoned that there was insufficient evidence to suggest that Collins reasonably believed there was going to be an imminent use of unlawful, nondeadly force against him.Upon appeal to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, Collins argued that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on self-defense. He contended that the nightclub employees following him on the street constituted a threat of non-deadly force. The Supreme Court, however, upheld the lower court's decision. The court noted that the indictment alleged that Collins committed the crime when he confronted the head of security at the nightclub's entrance, not when he was followed by the employees. Furthermore, Collins denied the specific conduct alleged in the indictment, which contradicted his self-defense claim. The court concluded that Collins was not entitled to a self-defense instruction under these circumstances. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision. View "State v. Collins" on Justia Law

The defendant, Roland Higgins, was convicted on sixteen counts of possession and six counts of distribution of child sexual abuse images. The evidence against him included images downloaded from a BitTorrent account associated with his IP address, as well as devices seized from his residence containing similar content. During an interview with law enforcement, Higgins admitted to viewing child pornography in the past but claimed he deleted any illicit images from his computers. He also denied knowingly sharing files from his computer through BitTorrent.The Superior Court found the defendant guilty on all counts. Higgins appealed, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he knowingly possessed and distributed the files specified in the indictments. He claimed that he inadvertently downloaded and subsequently shared the specified files without knowing their content or presence on his computer.The Supreme Court of New Hampshire affirmed the lower court's decision. The court concluded that there was sufficient evidence to support the defendant’s convictions beyond a reasonable doubt. The court reasoned that the defendant's admission to viewing child pornography in the past, his understanding of how BitTorrent works, and the presence of hundreds of torrent files with names consistent with child sexual abuse images on his devices provided circumstantial evidence of his knowledge of the files he obtained from BitTorrent. The court also rejected the defendant's argument that the presence of child pornography in a default download folder that is shared by default is insufficient to establish knowing distribution. The court found that when an individual consciously makes files available for others to take and those files are in fact taken, distribution has occurred. View "State v. Higgins" on Justia Law

The case revolves around a defendant, Jacob M. Farrell, who was convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault (AFSA), pattern AFSA, and felonious sexual assault. The defendant had a romantic relationship with the victim's mother, and they lived together along with the victim and the victim's sibling. The defendant sexually assaulted the victim multiple times, and the victim reported the assaults in March 2019, leading to the defendant's indictment on three counts of sexual assault charges.Prior to the trial, the defendant filed a motion to exclude any evidence related to the victim's sibling, including any misconduct by the defendant against the sibling. The State did not object, and the trial court granted the motion. During the trial, the victim's mother testified that the defendant had been spending more time with both children. On cross-examination, she mentioned that the victim had disclosed other things that the sibling had said. The defense moved for a mistrial, arguing that this testimony violated the motion in limine and had "poisoned" the jury. The trial court denied the motion for a mistrial, concluding that the testimony did not unambiguously convey that the defendant had committed a criminal act against the victim's sibling.The Supreme Court of New Hampshire affirmed the lower court's decision. The court concluded that the testimony did not unambiguously convey to the jury that the defendant had committed a criminal act against the victim's sibling. The court noted that several innocuous inferences could be drawn from the testimony, and it was not so prejudicial as to be incurable by an appropriate jury instruction. The court also disagreed with the defendant's assertion that the testimony leading up to the statement rendered the testimony at issue unambiguous. The court held that the trial court's decision to deny the defendant's request for a mistrial was not an unsustainable exercise of discretion. View "State v. Farrell" on Justia Law

The case revolves around John Doyle, who was charged with crimes stemming from a domestic dispute. In August 2019, the trial court ordered Doyle to undergo a competency evaluation, and his mental health and medical records were provided to the Office of the Forensic Examiner (OFE). The court specified that these records could only be used to determine competency and not for any other proceeding without a court order. The OFE concluded that Doyle was not competent to stand trial but could be restored to competence with appropriate treatment. However, an independent examiner concluded that Doyle was unlikely to be restored to competency. In August 2021, the OFE re-evaluated Doyle and concluded that he had not been restored to competency and was dangerous to himself or others.The trial court had previously ruled that Doyle's medical and mental health records were exempt from the physician-patient and psychotherapist-patient privileges, allowing the State to release these records to a physician designated by the State for assessing the appropriateness of involuntary commitment. Doyle appealed this decision, arguing that the court erred in ruling that his records were exempt from these privileges.The Supreme Court of New Hampshire vacated the trial court's decision and remanded the case. The Supreme Court found that the trial court erred in determining that Doyle's medical and mental health records were exempt from statutory privileges under RSA 135:17-a, V. The court concluded that these records were privileged under RSA 329:26 and RSA 330-A:32, and the trial court erred in determining that they were exempt from these privileges. The case was remanded for further proceedings to determine whether there were grounds for disclosing the privileged information. View "State v. Doyle" on Justia Law

The defendant, David Zuzelo, was convicted by a jury in the Superior Court of New Hampshire on one count of pattern aggravated felonious sexual assault (AFSA) and one count of AFSA alleging a single act of penetration. The defendant appealed his convictions, arguing that the trial court erred by denying his motion to dismiss both AFSA charges due to insufficient evidence and by denying his motion to preclude the admission of evidence pertaining to the complainant’s alleged behavioral changes and characteristics.The Superior Court had denied the defendant's motion to dismiss the charges, arguing that the State had failed to introduce sufficient evidence supporting either the pattern AFSA charge involving touching of the complainant’s genitalia or the AFSA charge alleging penetration. The trial court also denied the defendant's motion to exclude evidence of the complainant’s alleged behavioral changes and characteristics, arguing that this evidence was irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial.The Supreme Court of New Hampshire found that while there was sufficient evidence to support the single-act penetration AFSA conviction, there was insufficient evidence to support the pattern AFSA conviction. The court also concluded that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of the complainant’s alleged behavioral changes and characteristics and that the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. As a result, the court reversed the defendant’s pattern AFSA conviction and reversed and remanded his single-act penetration AFSA conviction. View "State v. Zuzelo" on Justia Law

The defendant, Christopher A. Small, was convicted on four charges, including aggravated felonious sexual assault (AFSA) by sexual intercourse with a minor, AFSA by digital penetration of a minor, and two counts of pattern AFSA. The charges stemmed from incidents where Small sexually assaulted a minor victim, starting with inappropriate touching and escalating to touching the victim's vagina. The defendant was indicted on four counts of AFSA, including a pattern of touching the victim's genitalia and a pattern of touching the victim's breasts.During the trial in the Superior Court, the victim testified that the defendant's inappropriate behavior began with cuddling and escalated to touching her chest and vagina. At the close of the State's case, the defense moved to dismiss the indictments, arguing that there was no testimony to indicate that the victim was specifically referring to her breasts when she described it as her chest. The court denied the motion, stating that the jury could find that her testimony referred to her breasts. The jury found the defendant guilty on all counts.On appeal to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, the defendant argued that the record only established that he may have touched the victim's breasts, which was not sufficient to conclude guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The State countered that there was sufficient evidence that the defendant committed AFSA by touching the victim's breasts. The Supreme Court agreed with the State, stating that a rational jury could reasonably infer that the defendant touched the victim's breasts as charged, beyond a reasonable doubt. The court affirmed the trial court's denial of the defendant's motion to dismiss the charge of pattern AFSA. View "State v. Small" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court of New Hampshire reviewed the case of Kierran Pierce, who appealed his convictions of aggravated felonious sexual assault (AFSA) and attempted AFSA. Pierce argued that the trial court erred in denying his motions for a mistrial and to dismiss the attempted AFSA charge at the close of the State's case. The Supreme Court concluded that the trial court did indeed err in denying the request for a mistrial. The court found that a statement made during the trial, indicating that Pierce had allegedly touched multiple children inappropriately, was highly prejudicial and should have resulted in a mistrial.However, the Supreme Court upheld the trial court's denial of the motion to dismiss the attempted AFSA charge, as they found sufficient evidence to prove guilt. The court reasoned that, despite alternative explanations presented by the defendant, the evidence supported the conclusion that the defendant was attempting to commit an act of sexual assault.The Supreme Court also briefly addressed the trial court's denial of the defendant's request for a view of the residence where the alleged sexual assaults occurred. The court did not make a definite ruling on this issue, suggesting instead that the parties might wish to develop these facts further in any subsequent trial. The case was ultimately reversed and remanded for further proceedings. View "State v. Pierce" on Justia Law