Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi isn’t planning to leave the New Hampshire Supreme Court just because she pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of attempting or soliciting improper influence from former Gov. Chris Sununu.
Moments after her plea and sentencing hearing Tuesday in Merrimack County Superior Court, Hantz Marconi’s legal team issued a defiant press release declaring her intent to remain on the state’s highest court for the rest of her term.
“Justice Hantz Marconi is very comfortable that she has made the best decision for herself, her family, and the State of New Hampshire. She looks forward to getting back to work,” the statement read.
The high court moved quickly to welcome her back, issuing an order late Tuesday lifting her administrative leave. Hantz Marconi will be allowed to resume serving on the Supreme Court if, as expected, the New Hampshire Attorney Discipline Office reinstates her law license. She voluntarily suspended her license last year when she was first indicted.
Meanwhile, Attorney General John Formella was notably absent from the courthouse on Tuesday. Despite his central role in the investigation—and the high stakes for his office—Formella was nowhere to be found.
Formella’s office indicted Hantz Marconi last October for allegedly attempting to involve Sununu in the criminal case against her husband, retired Portsmouth Ports Director Geno Marconi. She has been on administrative leave from the court since the controversial conversation with Sununu in June 2023.
Overall, Hantz Marconi’s no-contest plea represents a surprising victory for the embattled justice. It does not require her to resign from the Court or surrender her law license. She faces no jail time, and prosecutors agreed not to bring additional charges connected to the case — essentially, preemptive immunity. That is significant given the ongoing case against her husband, which could theoretically reveal evidence implicating her in his case.
It’s an embarrassing outcome for the Attorney General’s Office, several Granite State attorneys told NHJournal.
“Formella got outlawyered,” one Concord attorney said on background. “Then again, Bobbi (Marconi) had very good lawyers.”
Despite the plea resulting in a guilty finding, Hantz Marconi maintains her innocence.
Her lead attorney, Richard Guerriero, said in court that the charge alleged she improperly sought privileged information about the investigation into her husband through Sununu. She disputes the allegation, but by pleading no contest, she acknowledged prosecutors had sufficient evidence to proceed.
“We’re not contesting that the state could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she solicited Gov. Sununu to seek information regarding the investigation of Geno Marconi,” Guerriero said. “We’re not agreeing with those allegations, but we agree the state could make an offer of proof that would show she was soliciting Gov. Sununu to seek information into the investigation.”
Even with a misdemeanor conviction, Hantz Marconi emerged with a favorable outcome. Prosecutors dropped seven felony indictments that collectively carried up to 20 years in prison. Instead, she pleaded no contest to a single Class B misdemeanor, resulting in a $1,200 fine and $288 in court costs.
Prosecutors also stipulated in court that the misdemeanor does not qualify as a “serious crime” when reviewed by the New Hampshire Attorney Discipline Office. That makes it more likely Hantz Marconi will keep her law license and return to the bench.
Despite dropping all the original charges, Formella insisted that justice had been served.
“This is a sad and unfortunate case that reflects a serious breach of the public trust. Justice Hantz Marconi was an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court when she arranged for a private meeting with the governor and then sought to obtain special treatment regarding an active criminal investigation involving her husband,” Formella said in a prepared statement.
“That conduct was unlawful and unethical, and it undermines confidence in our criminal justice system. Today’s conviction holds her accountable under the law.”
While Formella did not appear in court, Deputy Attorney General James Boffetti attended, accompanied by Public Integrity Unit prosecutors Dan Jimenez and Joe Fincham, during the plea and sentencing hearing.
Afterward, Fincham and Jimenez denied that the dismissal of the original indictments—or Formella’s absence—signaled any concession that Hantz Marconi had been correct in alleging bias. Jimenez said the deputy attorney general’s presence merely showed support for the line prosecutors—an unusual move, but not unprecedented.
There has been little standard procedure in the prosecution of Hantz Marconi for her conversation with Sununu last June. Both Sununu and a witness to the conversation, Rudolf Ogden, told investigators they did not believe she made any improper requests. Neither did witness Steve Duprey, chair of the Pease Development Authority, which oversees Geno Marconi’s work.
Hantz Marconi was initially charged with allegedly trying to get Duprey to intervene on her husband’s behalf, but those charges were dropped as part of the plea deal.
This summer, Guerriero accused prosecutors of trying to obscure Formella’s central role in the investigation. Evidence that Formella acted as the initial—and possibly sole—investigator was withheld from the defense for months, Guerriero said. Although the case was later reassigned to the Public Integrity Unit, Guerriero noted that no written complaint had been filed to open the PIU case, as is typically required for such cases.
Formella’s handling of the matter was expected to be a central issue at trial. The defense had subpoenaed him to testify and was pursuing motions to dismiss the charges and to disqualify the Attorney General’s Office entirely. Judge Martin Honigberg had not yet ruled on those motions when the plea deal was announced.
Interestingly, prosecutors suggested over the summer that if Formella were removed from the case, his deputy, Boffetti, could still oversee the prosecution. That is essentially what occurred—without any formal court order.
The trial would have featured a lineup of high-profile witnesses, including Sununu, Formella, Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald, and potentially all associate justices of the Supreme Court. Ogden, Sununu’s former counsel and now a Superior Court judge, was also expected to testify.
In her press release, Hantz Marconi said she sought to avoid a trial that could have forced top state officials to take the stand.
“Justice Hantz Marconi entered a no contest plea because she continues to disagree with the attorney general’s characterization of her actions,” the statement read. “She also sought to bring the case to an end without the spectacle and possible damage of a trial involving testimony by New Hampshire Supreme Court justices and other state officials.”
Geno Marconi is scheduled to go on trial in February. He is accused of illegally accessing private driving records and destroying evidence. It is unclear whether the resolution of his wife’s case will affect his upcoming trial.
