By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Convicted sexual abuser James Woodlock says new information that’s come to light since he was found guilty could upend his verdicts, but what that information might be isn’t public.
The former Sununu Youth Services Center, also called YDC, staffer Woodlock, 62, is serving 20 to 40 years after he was convicted of being an accomplice in the rape of a teen in the 1990s. With more charges against Woodlock pending, his lawyer Richard Guerriero told the New Hampshire Supreme Court there is evidence that could clear him.
“Mr. Woodlock’s defense counsel learned new information which the defense contends forms the basis for a motion for post-conviction relief in the superior court,” Guerriero wrote in a July 31motion before the Supreme Court.
Woodlock had already filed notice he plans to appeal his convictions with the Supreme Court, but a motion for a new trial must be heard in the Hillsborough Superior Court — North in Manchester where the original trial took place. After being granted the motion to pause the Supreme Court appeal, Guerriero filed the motion for a new trial on Thursday.
But the basis for the new trial remains hidden as Woodlock’s motion and supporting documents were filed under seal. Guerriero declined to comment when contacted by InDepthNH.org.
Woodlock’s former YDC comrade and fellow convicted sex abuser, Brad Asbury, also tried to get a new trial earlier this year claiming newly discovered evidence raised questions about his accuser. Judge Will Delker did not find Asbury’s new evidence actually new, or relevant enough to trigger a new trial.
“[T]he Court has determined that these pieces of evidence allegedly discovered after trial were either already available, cumulative, inadmissible, or would probably not cause an acquittal upon retrial,” Delker wrote last month.
Guerriero had previously sought a competency evaluation for Woodlock, claiming in court that Woodlock’s solitary confinement was causing severe mental health problems. Woodlock is confined to his cell 23 hours a day and has no contact with other inmates, and minimal contact with DOC staff.
“He is let out of his cell for one hour a day during which he is allowed to go into a somewhat larger day room that has a shower. He is still alone when he is in the day room. He reports that he spends nearly the entirety of every day without contact with any other human being,” Guerriero wrote in the motion for the competency evaluation.
However, after listening to recordings of Woodlock’s prison phone calls Judge Delker denied that request in June. Even under obvious emotional duress, Woodlock remains competent, Delker wrote.
“The Court has no doubt that the defendant is genuinely experiencing mental distress from his conditions of confinement and due to the fact that he has been sentenced to many decades in prison. His emotions during the calls are not feigned. Nonetheless, he is still able to engage in rational conversations, has a good memory, and engages in veiled conversations regarding the legal strategy for his case,” Delker wrote.
If deemed incompetent, the pending cases against Woodlock would effectively stop. Woodlock is facing the prospect of another trial this fall on additional charges of abuse. He did have a trial scheduled for May on a single felony abuse accusation, but the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office dropped that charge in April with no explanation.
Last year, the state dropped one of the indictments against Woodlock when lead YDC Task Force investigator, New Hampshire State Police Sgt. Kelly LaPointe, testified she never presented evidence to the 2021 grand jury to support the indictment in question.
The revelation came out in a pretrial deposition, and LaPointe said the phantom indictment was likely a simple error and not prosecutorial malpractice.
“I mean, the indictments are based – should have been based on the case, the arrest warrant. I did not see the indictments prior. I don’t even believe I was present during the reading of them. They get read to the grand jury while I’m out of the room. So I think it’s just a mistake,” LaPointe said during the deposition.
Despite that irregularity, there’s been no review of the grand jury proceedings that resulted in the erroneous indictment.
The YDC Task Force was formed by Attorney General Gordon MacDonald in 2019 to deal with the fallout when YDC victims started going public about the abuse starting in 2017. The Task Force is no longer investigating YDC abuse, even though hundreds of alleged abusers have been named by survivors. Woodlock is one of just 11 men indicted as a result of the Task Force’s work.