By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org

Concord Police violated the state Constitution when they pushed to save time and get Logan Clegg’s cellphone data from Verizon without a warrant, a unanimous New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

“It is unreasonable that any individual’s freedom from governmental intrusion might be curtailed by virtue of how long it may or may not take a third party to respond to a warrant,” the justices wrote.

Clegg is serving a 50-years-to-life sentence for the seemingly senseless killings of Stephen and Djeswende “Wendy” Reid, a retired Concord couple out hiking when they were shot to death in April of 2022. Clegg was homeless and living in the woods near where the Reids were killed. He disappeared days after the murders, and was eventually arrested in Vermont in October of 2022.

Just before the murder trial began in 2023, Clegg’s lawyers tried to have evidence that police obtained during the October 2022 arrest suppressed based on the fact they skipped getting a warrant in order to find Clegg. That evidence includes Clegg’s 9 mm Glock pistol prosecutors claimed was used in the murders, $7,000 in cash Clegg earned working at a grocery store in Burlington, Vermont, and a Romanian identification card.

Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger allowed the evidence admitted at trial, ruling that police believed there were emergency circumstances at the time which allowed them to forgo the warrant in order to track down Clegg as quickly as possible.

But the Supreme Court justices ruled there was no factual or legal reason given by police or prosecutors that excuses the lack of a warrant. Police testified during the evidentiary hearing that getting a warrant for Clegg’s phone data would have taken a few hours. Verizon’s 24-hour police emergency service was able to get the data for police within about 30 minutes.

Police presented no evidence that Clegg knew police had his cell phone number, so he could not reasonably be considered a danger to get rid of his phone or evidence like the gun. Nor did police offer any evidence that Clegg presented an imminent danger. Concord police knew where Clegg was supposed to be without the data. When police sought his cell phone data, they knew he had a plane ticket to Germany leaving JFK Airport in New York within 56 hours of their data request. It’s possible Clegg could change his mind about the pending trip, but that is not enough to create a Constitution-bending emergency, the justices wrote. 

“[F]rom a reasonable officer’s perspective, there was no reason to believe CPD would lose the ability to collect ping data from the phone within the few hours needed to obtain a warrant and, therefore, the possibility that the defendant might not board his flight did not heighten the urgency of the situation,” the justices wrote. “In short, we disagree with the trial court’s conclusion that there was a risk that a few hours’ delay to obtain a warrant would likely have allowed the defendant to continue to evade apprehension because such delay would not have prevented CPD from intercepting him at the airport or meaningfully frustrated its efforts to locate him elsewhere. A theoretical risk untethered from any specific circumstances demonstrating that it is likely to be realized will not support a finding of exigency.”

The ruling does not overturn Clegg’s conviction. Instead, Kissinger’s ruling to allow the evidence, like the gun, is vacated.  Kissinger is now ordered to hold a new evidentiary hearing on or before June 15. Kissinger could still rule that all of the evidence would have been legally obtained by police under the inevitable discovery rule. Kissinger is to report his decision to the Supreme Court. 

Concord police didn’t immediately respond to InDepthNH.org seeking comment. Attorney General John Formella’s spokesman Mike Garrity said in an email: “We are reviewing the Supreme Court’s decision and will take appropriate action.”

The cell phone data is not the only questionable issue before the Supreme Court, but the justices are staying all other questions until Kissinger sorts out the cell phone data. Clegg is also challenging police witnesses who claimed to see bullet casings in crime scene photos. The casings were not found until weeks after the crime scene was photographed, and searched multiple times. Clegg also argues Kissinger was wrong to block evidence that K-9 search dog Cora never failed any search tests before she went through the Reids crime scene. Cora did not find the casings, either.

There’s no explanation for the murders, and no evidence the Reids were robbed or otherwise assaulted. The Reids were retired after coming home to Concord from a career abroad. Stephen Reid was a USAID consultant and travelled the world for his job.

Tuesday’s ruling is signed by all the justices except Associate Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, who was not hearing cases when the appeal was heard in November due to her own recent criminal conviction. Hantz Marconi retired last month.