PORTSMOUTH, NH – The New Hampshire Judicial Conduct Committee says it is still investigating state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi even though she retired Feb. 12 at the age of 70, pleaded no contest last October to a single misdemeanor charge in a plea agreement and was allowed to return to work.
“Notwithstanding her retirement, the JCC’s investigation remains ongoing and is not affected by Justice Hantz Marconi’s retirement,” according to a news release Thursday from JCC Counsel Robert Mittelholzer.
It cited the petition of W. Stephen Thayer, III that holds that the JCC retains jurisdiction to investigate allegations of misconduct that occurred while a retired judge was in office. The JCC has engaged counsel to assist with this investigation, the release said.
Following Hantz Marconi’s indictments by the Merrimack County Grand Jury in October 2024, the
Judicial Conduct Committee issued a brief public statement explaining that the JCC’s proceedings as is
the case with every judicial disciplinary body across the country are always confidential at the initial stages.
Her annual pension will be 55 percent of her salary of $201,903, which will be an annual figure of $111,046, according to a court spokesman.
She was sworn in by former Gov. Christopher Sununu on August 8, 2017. She was placed on paid leave July 26, 2024.
After pleading no contest Oct. 7, 2025, to meeting with then-Gov. Sununu about an investigation into her husband then-Ports and Harbors Director Geno Marconi in June of 2024, Hantz Marconi was found guilty of a misdemeanor, fined $1,200 and faced no jail time.
She was able to return to the bench Oct. 15, 2025, after being convicted of the misdemeanor because Attorney General John Formella in the plea bargain agreed it wasn’t a serious crime.
Her husband Geno Marconi, 74, of Stratham, pleaded guilty Oct. 31, 2025, to knowingly using information from a department record for any use other than the use authorized by the Department of Safety by providing confidential motor vehicle records pertaining to Neil Levesque, vice chairman of the Pease Development to Bradley Cook, who was then-chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council.
Geno Marconi was fined $2,000 and sentenced to 30 days in the House of Corrections, suspended on good behavior. The last person charged in the case, Bradley Cook of Hampton, the former-Chair of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council, pleaded guilty plea to one count of Obstructing Government Administration (RSA 642:1), a class B misdemeanor, and received a $1,200 fine.
The JCC held Justice Hantz Marconi’s disciplinary proceedings in abeyance until the underlying criminal matters were resolved in accordance with its procedural rules under New Hampshire Supreme Court.
During this period, the JCC continued to monitor the criminal proceeding, reviewed public reporting on the pending charges, and remained in contact with the Attorney General’s Office and Hantz Marconi’s counsel.
Thursday’s release said the pending criminal matters were concluded in October 2025 when Justice Hantz Marconi pleaded no contest to a charge of Misuse of Position (Solicitation), a Class B Misdemeanor, and paid a fine. All of the charges in the original indictments were dismissed by the Attorney General’s Office.
The JCC restarted its investigation of the circumstances giving rise to the criminal charges and potential
violation(s) of the Code of Judicial Conduct on Oct. 9, 2025, the release said.