Now that Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi’s criminal case is finished, her husband, former Ports Director Geno Marconi, will get his November trial after all.
Rockingham County Superior Court Judge David Ruoff ordered Geno Marconi’s trial back on the court’s November calendar just two business days after granting prosecutors a delay until February.
Geno Marconi was originally scheduled to go to trial Nov. 3 in Rockingham County Superior Court — the same week his wife’s trial was set in Merrimack County Superior Court. That conflict prompted prosecutors with the Public Integrity Unit of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to request a schedule change, since they were handling both cases.
Geno Marconi’s attorney, Richard Samdperil, initially objected to moving the trial but dropped that objection during a Friday hearing before Ruoff, allowing the date to be moved to February.
“Yet, one business day later, the defendant in the Hantz-Marconi case filed a notice of intent to plead, and her plea was changed and accepted on today’s date (Tuesday). That ended the prosecution of that case. Given that less than two business days have passed since that scheduling conflict has been resolved, the court is of the opinion that this case can be placed back in its original trial track in November 2025. Juror summonses had already been issued, and the court cleared space on its docket for that trial,” Ruoff wrote in a Tuesday order.
Ruoff then called an emergency telephonic hearing for late Tuesday afternoon so prosecutors Joe Fincham and Dan Jimenez could explain why Geno Marconi’s trial should not return to its original November slot. A transcript of that hearing was not available Tuesday, but the trial is now back on the calendar to begin Nov. 3. Ruoff said there is ample time for prosecutors and Samdperil to prepare.
“The court is aware that both parties lost five days of trial preparation time. However, jury selection is almost a month away. The court will be flexible in adjusting deadlines prior to jury selection,” Ruoff wrote Wednesday.
