CONCORD – One year after she was indicted for seeking special favors from then-Gov. Chris Sununu about the investigation into her husband Ports Director Geno Marconi, state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi will return to the bench Wednesday after being convicted last week of a new misdemeanor in a plea agreement.
Hantz Marconi, 69, of Stratham will recuse herself from the first two of six appeals scheduled to be heard Wednesday at the state Supreme Court because they were prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office, which prosecuted her.
She pleaded no contest Oct. 7 to one new misdemeanor charge Criminal Solicitation (Misuse of position) by soliciting then-Gov. Chris Sununu to secure a government privilege she wasn’t entitled to regarding the investigation into Geno Marconi, who is scheduled for trial next month.
Judge Martin Honigberg found Hantz Marconi guilty of the charge in Merrimack County Superior Court. The original two felony charges and five misdemeanors were dismissed.
She faced no jail time and was fined $1,200.
Hantz Marconi’s defense attorney Richard Guerriero had sought to have Attorney General John Formella and his office disqualified from prosecuting her saying he had a conflict of interest, but the most recent motion wasn’t ruled on by the judge before the plea deal was reached.
Formella, Sununu, Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald and the other three state Supreme Court justices had all been subpoenaed to testify at her trial. Guerriero said soon after Hantz Marconi was indicted that MacDonald told her she had a right to meet with Sununu, but MacDonald told investigators that didn’t happen.
The part of the plea agreement that allowed her law license reinstated and for her to return to work was the consideration that the crime wasn’t “serious.”
“The State shall confirm during the colloquy that the State agrees that the offense of which
Justice Hantz Marconi is being convicted falls outside of the definition of ‘serious crime’ in
N.H. Sup. Ct. R. 37(9)(b) because it does not involve a felony nor does any necessary element
of the charge, as determined by statutory or common law definitions, involve interference with
the administration of justice, false swearing, misrepresentation, fraud, deceit, bribery, extortion,
misappropriation, theft, or an attempt or a conspiracy or solicitation of another to commit a
‘serious crime.'”
Hantz Marconi still has matters pending with the Attorney Discipline Office and the Judicial Conduct Committee, but in a matter of days after she pleaded no contest had her law license restored and been given the green light to return to work.
After the hearing Formella issued a stern statement that didn’t appear to recognize the plea bargain would help pave the way for her to return to work.
“This is a sad and unfortunate case that reflects a serious breach of the public trust. Justice Hantz Marconi was an Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court when she arranged for a private meeting with the Governor and then sought to obtain special treatment regarding an active criminal investigation involving her husband,” Formella said. “That conduct was unlawful and unethical, and it undermines confidence in our criminal justice system. Today’s conviction holds her accountable under the law.”
The plea bargain Oct. 7 ended Hantz Marconi’s case, but her husband Geno Marconi, 74, is still scheduled for trial next month in Rockingham County Superior Court in Brentwood.
Geno Marconi has pleaded not guilty to falsifying physical evidence by deleting a voicemail/and or voicemails from a phone on April 22, 2024. He was also indicted for allegedly retaliating against Pease Development Authority Board Vice Chairman Neil Levesque by providing confidential motor vehicle records pertaining to Levesque to Bradley Cook, in violation of the Driver Privacy Act.
The original jury selection date for Geno Marconi in Rockingham County Superior Court of November 3, 2025 (two week trial period) was reinstated. The final pretrial conference is scheduled for Oct. 16 at 8:30 a.m.