New Hampshire Supreme Court
Cases Accepted - May 1997
* denotes appealing parties
96-574 St. Pierre,* Jimmy v. Commissioner, NH State
Prison, Warden, NH State
Prison, NH Parole Board,
Offender Records
James E. Duggan Attorney General
Habeas corpus - good time credits; whether petitioner is
entitled to good time credits in effect at time of crime;
whether petitioner's credits have been miscalculated
96-605 Kendall, Stephen v. Brewitt,* Darcy
Pamela D. Albee Paula M. DeSaulnier
Child custody - visitation; whether court abused its
discretion by ordering defendant to move to Wolfeboro
from Stratham in order to retain primary physical
custody; violation of right to travel; application of
Perreault standard; failure to exclude psychologist's
report and testimony; cross-appeal - whether private
agreement as to child support by unmarried parties can be
enforced retroactively to create arrearage; whether
enforcement of agreement violates NH Constitution part I,
article 2
97-061 State of NH v. Ramsay,* Ronald G.
Attorney General William H. Hopkins
Interfering with forest fire personnel - whether
defendant's speedy trial and double jeopardy rights were
violated; sufficiency of evidence; excessive sentence
97-063 Jolin,* Don, Appeal of
(workers' compensation appeals board)
Edward H. Moquin for Mr. Jolin
Donna M. Head for Manchester Knitted Fashions
Attorney General
Workers' compensation - whether chiropractic care was a
maintenance program; whether board was prejudiced against
chiropractic profession
97-165 Barry,* Kevin G. and Marcel J. Gagnon, Appeal of
(City of Manchester Employees' Contributory Retirement
System)
Robert K. Mekeel for Mr. Barry and Mr. Gagnon
Claudia Damon for Trustees of Retirement System
Retirement benefits - whether retirement board has
authority to offset disability pension benefits against
proceeds of workers' compensation lump sum settlements;
whether board erred in offsetting portion of lump sum
settlements paid as counsel fees and expenses
97-183 State of NH v. Bickham,* Darryl
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Anne Birgel
Aggravated felonious sexual assault - failure to exclude
scientific evidence regarding saliva; chain of custody;
failure to dismiss count alleging "surprise"; whether
defendant opened the door to admission of bad acts
evidence; admission of hearsay
97-196 State of NH v. Allen,* Christopher
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Joseph C. Malfitani
First degree assault - sufficiency of evidence to
disprove accident; sufficiency of jury instructions on
elements of assault; denial of new trial based on juror
misconduct; failure to reconvene jury to inquire into
misconduct
97-197 State of NH v. White,* Carl
Attorney General Philip Defosses
Aggravated felonious sexual assault - denial of
opportunity to depose victim; admission of subsequent bad
act evidence
97-206 State of NH v. Hammond,* Troy
Attorney General Gerard J. Boyle
John F. Boyle
Manslaughter, first degree assault - whether confession
was voluntary; exclusion of statistical evidence
regarding knowledge concerning "shaken baby syndrome";
sufficiency of evidence of serious bodily injury;
excessive sentence
97-213 State of NH v. Littlefield,* John
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Robert L. Hemeon
Aggravated felonious sexual assault - denial of Howard
hearing; exclusion of prior consensual sexual activity of
the victim
97-220 State of NH v. Sanborn,* Robert
Attorney General James E. Duggan
Nancy A. DeAngelis
Criminal threatening, reckless conduct - failure to quash
indictment that alleged four separate offenses; whether
court erred in consolidating charges for trial; admission
of victim's written statement to rehabilitate her
credibility; sufficiency of evidence that rifle was
loaded, thus making evidence insufficient to find that
rifle was capable of causing death or serious bodily
injury
97-235 Glick,* Michael v. Naess, Victoria
Joshua L. Gordon Phillip S. Rader
Attorney's fees - whether plaintiff's action for
intentional infliction of emotional distress and
intentional interference with custody against former
spouse was brought in bad faith or was brought without
any reasonable basis such that defendant is entitled to
an award of attorney's fees
97-278 Roche,* Patrick A., v. Commissioner, NH
Larry L. Keller, Department of Post-
William H. Seed, Secondary Technical
David Larrabee and Education and The Board
Robert Bloomfield of Governors
Anna Barbara Hantz Attorney General
Right-To-Know law, breach of contract, wrongful discharge
- scope of Right-To-Know law hearing, remedies for
violation; whether trial court's findings after hearing
on Right-To-Know law claims are binding and have
collateral estoppel effect on plaintiffs' other claims;
denial of remedy for Right-To-Know law violations found
by trial court; whether trial court erred in finding that
plaintiffs voluntarily terminated their employment;
interlocutory appeal
97-282 Disabilities Rights v. Commissioner,* State of
Center, Inc. NH Department of
Corrections, and Joseph
Panarello, in his
official capacity as
Administrative
Director, Secure Psy-
chiatric Unit, NH State
Prison
Ronald Lospennato Attorney General
Sheila Zakre
Right-to-Know law, Protection and Advocacy for Mentally
Ill Individuals Act - whether court erred in ordering
State to disclose quality assurance records of the secure
psychiatric unit; cross-appeal - whether petitioners are
prevailing parties entitled to attorney's fees under 42
U.S.C. 1988
97-308 Request from the Senate for an Opinion of the Justices
(property taxation of telephone poles)
Request by the Senate for opinion of constitutionality
of Senate bill providing that telephone and cable
communications poles and lines owned by public utilities
be subject to property tax; constitutionality of proposed
exemption for whole or partial interest in poles and
wires employed in transmission of communication services
that are subject to tax under RSA Chapter 82-A and owned
by retailers