By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
BRENTWOOD – Ports and Harbors Director Geno Marconi’s trial will start next week for allegedly retaliating against a witness and falsifying evidence a month after his wife, state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, cut a deal pleading no contest to a misdemeanor and was fined $1,200.
Jury selection will start Nov. 3 for Geno Marconi, 74, of Stratham, who appeared Tuesday in Rockingham County Superior Court for the final pre-trial hearing. Judge David Ruoff said he quashed the defense subpoena for Attorney General John Formella to testify.
Ruoff left open the possibility if something comes up during trial showing Formella is a necessary witness with unique information only he can provide, then he would revisit the matter.
The criminal cases against the two well-know Republican officials – Justice Hantz Marconi and her husband Geno Marconi – on seemingly minor criminal charges have shined a harsh light on the criminal justice system for the last year.
A news article published last week by New Hampshire Public Radio added fuel to the criticism of Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald, who had been subpoenaed to testify in Hantz Marconi’s case before it ended in a plea deal and no trial.
And on Monday, the state Supreme Court suddenly cancelled two oral arguments involving the Attorney General’s Office scheduled for Tuesday without explanation saying they would be rescheduled.
The criminal cases against husband and wife have dominated the news for a little more than a year. In Hantz Marconi’s case, the Attorney General’s Office dropped the original seven criminal charges against her. She pleaded no contest in Merrimack County Superior Court Oct. 7 to a new charge of Criminal Solicitation (Misuse of Position) and Judge Martin Honigberg found her guilty of the new charge. She received no jail time and was fined $1,200.
The new charge says Hantz Marconi, 69, met with then-Gov. Chris Sununu in June of 2024 and secured a government privilege she wasn’t entitled to regarding the criminal investigation into her husband, Geno Marconi.
Hantz Marconi has already returned to hearing cases on the high court because the misdemeanor she was convicted of wasn’t a “serious” crime.
Her return to work must have caused some uncomfortable moments because Hantz Marconi claimed MacDonald told her she had every right to the meeting with then-Gov. Sununu that led to criminal charges against her, but MacDonald told investigators that didn’t happen.
MacDonald has been under new scrutiny since New Hampshire Public Radio reporter Todd Bookman reported last week that while MacDonald warned of layoffs and delayed trials due to tight budgets earlier this year, “according to a whistleblower, MacDonald helped orchestrate a nearly $50,000 payout for his former chief of staff (Dianne Martin).”
According to the news report, Martin was laid off for two days then immediately rehired at a better paying job still working for MacDonald. “It allowed her to cash out unused sick and vacation time, and other benefits, for a total payment of nearly $50,000. Typically, state employees are only able to cash out their unused sick and vacation time when they retire or are laid off,” Bookman wrote.
The report has prompted criticism and speculation, but MacDonald cited personnel rules as reason not to comment.
On Monday afternoon, the clerk of the state Supreme Court notified the Attorney General’s Office that the only two cases scheduled for oral argument Tuesday were cancelled and would be rescheduled, but gave no explanation. They both involved the Attorney General’s Office.
Notice of the oral arguments in both cases remained on the court’s website Tuesday night as if they had been heard. One involved an appeal of New Hampshire Personnel Appeals Board in which Justice Hantz Marconi was disqualified. The other case involved a voter fraud appeal in which both MacDonald and Hantz Marconi were disqualified.
Court spokesman Av Harris said staff members were notified by the court clerk the two cases would be rescheduled, but not told why.
Mike Garrity, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said, “At 3:06 p.m. yesterday (Monday) our attorneys in two different cases received notices from the NH Supreme Court letting them know that their arguments were being continued. When they called, the clerk said they did not know why the argument was continued, but that it was continued by the court and not by one of the parties.”
After the hearing Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Joe Fincham said the investigation into the Division of Ports and Harbors, which is overseen by the Pease Development Authority, began in 2021 when two unnamed fishermen complained to Safety Commissioner Robert Quinn who forwarded the complaint to the Attorney General’s Office.
Geno Marconi is accused of retaliating against Neil Levesque, vice chairman of the Pease Development Authority, by providing Levesque’s confidential motor vehicle records to a third party and deleting phone messages related to the investigation.
“The only element we have to prove is there was an investigation and that Neil Levesque was a witness or informant in the investigation and the voice mails that were deleted were potential evidence in that investigation,” Fincham said after Tuesday’s hearing.