By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org

KEENE — Robert LaMontagne spent close to a decade in prison after his 1990 conviction for sex crimes against children he maintains never happened.

Now, after nearly 40 years, LaMontagne is about to get a chance to clear his name. LaMontagne appeared in Cheshire Superior Court in Keene on Tuesday with attorney Michael Iacopino in what could be the start of the long journey to exoneration.

“We’re going to try to overturn the conviction,” Iacopino told InDepthNH.org.

But LaMontagne and Iacopino were not in court Tuesday to start that crusade. Instead, LaMontagne was facing a contempt of court charge for allegedly sharing information from sealed court records in his case, records that LaMontagne had fought for years to uncover.

Grafton County Attorney Martha Ann Hornick pushed a contempt of court proceeding against LaMontagne after she was informed he shared sealed information in an online forum. LaMontagne told InDepthNH.org this summer he was never given a clear explanation about what information was sealed, and what wasn’t.

But Hornick backtracked on Tuesday, informing Judge Anne Edwards that due to new information about mitigating circumstances she was withdrawing her contempt motion. Iacopino declined to discuss the mitigating information.

“There was a problem with their motion, but unfortunately there are sealed documents we cannot discuss,” Iacopino told InDepthNH.org.

Hornick was tapped to investigate LaMontagne’s claims that the detective working the original case, retired Keene Police Lt. James McLaughlin, was on the Laurie List for lying to superiors and destroying evidence, facts that were never shared during the trial that ended in his conviction. 

InDepthNH.org uncovered two disciplinary incidents in McLaughlin’s record in 2022 after filing a Right-to-Know request. One 1986 incident involved McLaughlin getting caught in a lie about discharging his service revolver. The other incident, which took place in 1987, involved McLaughlin possibly tampering with evidence.

The investigation into LaMontagne’s alleged abuse of his children kicked off in 1988, according to available records. It was McLaughlin who made the original arrest and testified at the trial.

LaMontagne never knew about McLaughlin’s Laurie List, or EES, placement until InDepthNH.org uncovered it in 2022. And according to Hornick’s investigation, there’s no evidence that LaMontagne’s defense attorney was ever informed, either. That lawyer, Bruce Jasper, told InDepthNH.org in 2022 he wasn’t told about McLaughlin’s potentially problematic records. Jasper has since died.

Criminal defendants are constitutionally guaranteed to be told about any exculpatory evidence – evidence that is favorable to them – before trial. That would include evidence in a testifying police officer’s confidential personnel file that showed the officer had credibility issues.

McLaughlin is currently not on the EES, however. McLaughlin’s name appeared on the very first Exculpatory Evidence Schedule released by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office in January of 2022, but was redacted within hours. A lawsuit challenging placement on the list was cited at the time. Last year, a John Doe police officer whose biographical details match McLaughlin was able to get removed from the EES, according to court records. 

Now, LaMontagne and Iacopino plan to go to court to challenge the 1990 convictions. Iacopino isn’t certain how they will proceed yet, but said there are different legal paths to pursue. The challenge is going to be recreating the record from 1990 in order to prove their case, he said.

“There are methods to get to the court. Of course, getting to the court is one thing, we’ve got to back up everything that we say, too,” Iacopino said.