The most recent Laurie List of dishonest cops can be seen here: https://indepthnh.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/November-5-2024-EES-List.pdf

By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org

A Nashua police officer who made sure children were kept out of harm’s way despite a court order, will be removed from the Exculpatory Evidence Schedule thanks to a state Supreme Court ruling.

It’s another John Doe lawsuit brought by a police officer challenging his EES placement, and the Supreme Court sided with the cop in Wednesday’s case order. The Court continues to clarify the 2021 law that made the EES, also known as the Laurie List, a public document for the first time, but it allowed officers to challenge in court their placement on the list before making the names public.

The Laurie List is meant to catalogue police officers who have committed some form of misconduct like using excessive force, lying in the course of their duties, or being convicted of a crime. 

In the case decided Wednesday, though, the officer was disciplined for making sure children would not be put in danger. He never lied about his conduct, he did not break any laws, and he even sought advice from supervisors during the incident, according to court records. 

According to the facts in the case, the incident took place more than 13 years ago when the officer responded to a domestic disturbance involving a married but separated couple. The husband lived in Massachusetts and the wife lived in Nashua. During his time at the home the officer learned that the husband had primary custody of the children due to his wife’s alarming behavior.

“The [officer] learned that the wife struggled with substance abuse, had conveyed her intent to leave the country with the two children, once accidentally ‘set her home on fire’ while impaired, and had, on at least one occasion, left the children home alone while she went to the liquor store,” according to the case order.

While the husband had a hearing to get sole custody of the children scheduled for the following day in Massachusetts, the wife reportedly obtained a temporary restraining order in New Hampshire to prevent the husband from taking the children.

This is when the officer decided to not fully enforce the TRO at the time. One of the couple’s children was at the Nashua home and the husband wanted to take the child to Massachusetts, but the wife insisted her TRO meant the child had to stay with her.

Instead of ordering the child to stay with a mother he believed was dangerous, the officer served the husband with a copy of the order as required and advised him to get an emergency hearing in court that day. The officer then followed up and spoke to the husband’s attorney, also advised him of the TRO, and recommended he push for the emergency hearing that same day.

The husband did get a hearing in court that afternoon, and the officer testified about what he learned about the wife and her TRO. The husband was granted sole custody that afternoon, which then overrode the TRO. 

Throughout that day, the officer spoke to his supervisor about the situation and got approval for his course of action. His reports on the matter contained no lies about the situation or the steps that he took. 

The wife later filed a complaint with the Nashua Police Department because the officer did not immediately enforce her TRO. Two Nashua Police investigations into the officer resulted in a finding that the officer failed to meet department standards by not immediately enforcing the order, but he was not placed on the Laurie List at the time.

Instead, the officer was told approximately six years later under the regime of a different chief of police that he would get put on the Laurie List for a sustained “violation of legal procedure.” The officer was told he had no recourse and could not appeal his chief’s decision to put him on the Laurie List. But in 2019, yet another new Nashua Police Chief reviewed the case and asked the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to remove the officer, but was declined.

Under the 2021 law change, officers have the right to challenge their Laurie List placement in court, and the officer filed his lawsuit in 2022. His effort to get removed from the Laurie List was denied at the Superior Court level, and his appeal followed.

The Court’s decision on Wednesday found the officer did nothing to warrant an addition to the EES. He did not lie, he did not break the law, and he did not act in an unprofessional manner. Instead, he sought a way to keep vulnerable children safe.

“The plaintiff confronted difficult circumstances,” the Justices wrote. “The plaintiff could have reasonably believed that these facts posed a legitimate concern for the safety and welfare of the child in the father’s custody at that time. He informed his supervisor of the situation and, to a degree, followed his supervisor’s direction by informing the husband and his attorney to bring the dispute to the court system on an expedited basis. In addition, the plaintiff truthfully documented the incident and his conduct in a report and it is undisputed that he was never dishonest when the NPD investigated him.”

Police misconduct that is worthy of an EES placement must then be disclosed to defense attorneys in criminal cases in which those officers can be called as witnesses, though the disclosure is not automatic. Whether or not the misconduct record is given to a defense attorney depends on the facts of any individual case, and the officer’s role in the related investigation or arrest. 

Getting placed on the Laurie List has long been seen as a career killer for police. It can make it next to impossible for an officer on the list to get hired. The decision to put an officer on the list is typically made by an individual police chief, who then informs the Attorney General’s Office. Some officers have alleged the Laurie List is used as a weapon in intra-departmental political feuds, rather than a way to hold officers accountable. 

On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court decided two other appeals of police trying to get their names removed from the Laurie List: https://indepthnh.org/2024/12/03/nh-supreme-court-keeps-one-cop-on-the-laurie-list-while-letting-another-off/