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After all his lies, his cheating, and his criminal convictions, former Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave was still trying to game the system on Monday as he received his 3.5 to 7-year prison sentence.

Brave, who turns 40 later this month, was a rising star in the Democratic Party after becoming both New Hampshire’s youngest sheriff and first elected Black sheriff in 2020. His career crashed and burned after he was caught stealing close to $20,000 in taxpayer money to fund a series of extramarital affairs.

He compounded his crimes by lying to a grand jury about his actions, which led to his prison sentence from Strafford Superior Court Judge Daniel St. Hilaire.

Former Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave enters court for his sentencing at Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, N.H., on May 19, 2025. POOL DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER

Rather than accept his sentencing, however, Brave once again tried to delay the inevitable by telling the judge he needed an extra day to make arrangements for his teenage daughter.

And once again, it didn’t work.

“You should have planned for today,” St. Hilaire said, reminding Brave he had 90 days between his plea hearing in February and Monday’s sentencing to get his life in order.

Brave is now heading to prison to serve his time for one count of felony perjury, with the other perjury sentence of 3.5 to 7 years suspended.

St. Hilaire said the goal of the sentence is not primarily to punish Brave, or to get him rehabilitated, but to deter any other law enforcement officer or elected official from lying as Brave did. But as St. Hilaire said, Brave set a high bar for low behavior.

“Throughout this case, and even prior to you being charged, the court has reviewed a record that is unlike any that has come before it, mainly because of the continuation of crimes that were being committed while the case was proceeding,” St. Hilaire said. “You kept digging a hole for yourself rather than stopping.”

For example, Brave accused his fellow elected Strafford County Democrats of racism for pursuing an investigation into his actions — despite the overwhelming evidence of his wrongdoing.

One of those accused Democrats, County Commissioner George Maglaras, said he supports the prison time St. Hilaire imposed.

“It’s a sad day for Strafford County. I’m sorry we had to go through this. I’m happy to take the days of Mark Brave as sheriff of Strafford County and put them behind us,” Maglaras said.

Superior Court Justice Daniel St. Hilaire speaks at the sentencing hearing for former Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave at Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, N.H., on May 19, 2025. POOL DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER

During the sentencing hearing, Brave told St. Hilaire that being elected sheriff was a dream come true for the one-time reserve police officer in Lawrence, Mass. But soon after his election, his marriage started to fall apart. He began a series of “poor choices” and used his county credit card to pay for his extramarital escapades.

“I stand before you, embarrassed and ashamed of my own conduct,” Brave said.

But St. Hilaire told Brave that if the crimes before him on Monday were just about the money, it is likely he would not be going to prison. Brave lied to investigators who started looking at his suspicious purchases and out-of-state trips. He lied before a grand jury several times. And after he was charged in 2023 and placed on personal recognizance bail, Brave lied to St. Hilaire and prosecutors about his residence and finances in order to get a free, public defender appointed to his case.

“The first few crimes charged, they were wrong, but it’s often the coverup that’s worse than the original crime,” St. Hilaire said.

Before the sentence was imposed, Assistant Attorney General Joe Fincham told St. Hilaire that Brave’s position as a law enforcement officer required a serious sentence.

“The public must know that if a law enforcement officer lies repeatedly, especially under oath, in order to obtain or avoid an indictment, in order to obtain or avoid conviction, there must be punishment for these actions. Because otherwise, there is no line protecting citizens,” Fincham said.

Lief Becker, Brave’s private attorney, asked for a maximum sentence on the two perjury counts, but urged that the sentences be suspended to allow Brave his freedom. Becker agrees that it is a serious breach of trust when a police officer lies, but Brave’s case is nuanced. He wasn’t lying as a police officer for police business. He was lying to cover up his liaisons and thefts.

“The significance of perjury can’t be understated. But Mr. Brave in his falsehoods was acting in his own self-interest as a criminal defendant,” Becker said.

Prosecutor Joe Fincham speaks at the sentencing hearing for Former Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave at Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, N.H., on May 19, 2025.  POOL DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER

During his run as sheriff, Brave maxed out his county credit card, and then maxed the card controlled by Emergency Communications Director Justin Bellin. He created an $80,000 a year job for a female friend, Freezenia Veras, and then he took her to Florida for a fictitious consulting session with another law enforcement agency.

Brave wined and dined another woman, identified in court as “Y.F.,” and he told county officials those trips were either for a law enforcement conference or a charity, depending on who was asking. In front of the grand jury, Brave lied about taking Y.F. on a dinner cruise until confronted with photos of the couple together. When asked her name, Brave was stumped.

“Her name, her name is … um … Let me see, I forget which one this is. I’ve been dating a lot of people,” Brave testified before the grand jury.

He met another woman online, Kenisha Epps-Schmidt, and he traveled to Maryland to see her. Brave made up more fictitious justifications to use his county credit card for those trips as well, even making up a Washington D.C., and meeting with U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas. Eventually, Brave ripped off Epps-Schmidt for more than $2,000 in a used car deal. 

After being charged, Brave lied to St. Hilaire and violated his bail conditions by paying $52,000 on a year’s lease for an apartment in Massachusetts. His bail required that he remain living in New Hampshire, so Brave told the court he was still living in Dover with his ex-wife and that he was broke. He did not mention the apartment in Massachusetts, or the 1968 Porsche he bought. Brave did post photos and a video of the classic car, though. Fincham told the court that Brave also took trips to Florida and Puerto Rico while awaiting trial, again violating court order.

State Rep. Timothy Horrigan (D-Durham) was in court Monday and said afterward he is saddened by the whole saga. Brave was a candidate Horrigan and many others supported and believed in.

“I even had one of his campaign signs on my property,” Horrigan said.

Democrat Jonah Wheeler stood alone before a capacity crowd in the Peterborough Town Hall as critics, leaders in his own party, and even some childhood friends railed against the 22-year-old state representative’s vote for legislation deemed “transphobic” by progressive activists.

Wheeler (D-Peterborough) was unapologetic during Tuesday night’s question and answer session sponsored by the Peterborough League of Women Voters as he explained why he broke with his party and voted for HB 148. The bill protects the right of local institutions to keep biological males out of women’s locker rooms and bathrooms.

“Nobody should be discriminated against because of who they are,” Wheeler said. “We can respect trans women, and we can respect the rights of women who object to having trans women in their spaces.”

“You can do whatever you feel like, but your rights end when the rights of another begin. Government is about the balance of rights,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler explained that some biological women had approached him asking that he protect their spaces. “What was I supposed to do — ignore these women?” Several people in the crowd said, “Yes! Yes!”

“For some of you, the answer is ‘yes.’ For me, it’s ‘no.’ I’m not going to ignore these women,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said he’s been getting angry calls, emails, text messages, and even death threats since he voted for the bill. The overflowing meeting room in the Peterborough Town Library was packed with people angry with Wheeler, as well as many supporters thankful for his heterodox vote.

New Hampshire Democrats have repeatedly and publicly accused Wheeler, who is Black, of supporting “Jim Crow” policies by supporting women’s-only spaces.

At one point, the League of Women Voters’ video stream of the event was hijacked, replaced with graphic images of sex, along with a racial slur. The stream had to be shut down.

HB 148 does not impose a blanket ban on transgender people, but allows local institutions and local sports authorities to set their own policies they deem appropriate. Wheeler refuses to consider the women who spoke to him in favor of the bill as somehow bigoted or transphobic.

“I voted the way I did because I did represent my constituents,” Wheeler said.

As attendees vented their anger at Wheeler, he maintained his composure throughout. When an attendee shouted, “How do you sleep?” Wheeler responded, “I sleep just fine, having done my research and having voted on the bill as it was written.”

Wheeler is one of two Democratic representatives to vote for HB 148, and both are from Peterborough. Rep. Peter Leishman was not at Tuesday night’s event, leaving Wheeler to face the angry throng alone.

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill, the lone Democrat on the council, stood up to condemn Wheeler’s vote, saying the bill is part of the “racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic” Project 2025 movement pushed by Republican President Donald Trump.

“I’m very sad to think New Hampshire is rolling back civil rights protections for Granite Staters,” Liot Hill said.

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill (D) denounces Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) at an event at the Peterborough Town Library.

Dan Grosz, with the Peterborough Democratic Executive Committee, read a statement on behalf of the party condemning Wheeler and Leishman’s vote. 

“We must express our deep concern and disapproval over your recent voting records,” Grosz

read. “While we respect your right to vote your conscience, our conscience compels us to publicly voice our opposition to your actions.”

Wheeler noted neither Grosz nor anyone else from the local party had reached out to speak to him about his vote before issuing the condemnation. Instead, Democrats turned out to call him a “fascist” and “useful idiot” at Tuesday’s event.

“The moral line of the party that’s been drawn by the Democratic Party is why this party has atrophied so much in the last 25 years,” Wheeler said.

The party in New Hampshire is dominated by affluent, White progressives who have little tolerance for differing views, Wheeler said.

“There’s so much fervor on the left that if you bring up one counter opinion from the orthodoxy, then you’re shouted down, screamed down. People don’t respond well to that,” Wheeler said.

Things got personal for Wheeler as childhood friends stood up to condemn him for his vote.

“You stabbed me in the back,” said Jane, a transgender woman who grew up with Wheeler.

Even Wheeler’s former grade school teacher, Mary Goldthwaite, tried to put him in a time out.

“I proudly voted for you, and I am ashamed of what you have done out in the world,” Goldthwaite said.

After the event, Wheeler told NHJournal the problem with the New Hampshire Democratic Party isn’t having representatives who vote their own way. It’s that the party leadership that is adrift and ineffective.

“The state party is failing,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler also decried the Democratic Party’s reliance on corporate donors.

“Look at the donors of the Democratic Party nationally. Look at the donors of the Democratic Party statewide. Why is Ray Buckley still our state chairman? We’re living with a corrupt party,” Wheeler said.

Jamie Reed, a former Missouri pediatric gender clinic case worker turned whistleblower who identifies herself as a “lifelong Democrat” was at Tuesday’s event. She said the way Wheeler was treated by the League of Women Voters and the moderator “shows they are not a nonpartisan organization. They had an agenda from the start.”

She also recounted a conversation she had with Dan Grosz, during which she pointed out that the vast majority of Granite Staters support Wheeler, not the extreme position his party is pushing.

“Are you familiar with events in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s?” Grosz responded.

Asked about his comparison to Nazi Germany, Grosz said, “The pattern of autocratic movements is to first pick on the weak and marginal parts of society and normalize discrimination against them first.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Mr. Grosz’s name and add his responses.

Former Stafford County Sheriff Mark Brave has a date with destiny. His upcoming sentencing hearing will determine whether the lascivious lawman is locked up for his crimes.

Brave pleaded guilty last month to charges he stole $19,000 in taxpayer money to fund his extramarital escapades, maxing out his county-issued credit card to cover the costs of out-of-town travel to meet his illicit paramours. 

But the deal Brave struck with prosecutors to end the criminal case leaves open another possible trip on the taxpayer’s dime — up the river.

Brave could be sentenced to prison on perjury charges related to the theft. The hearing on whether or not Brave goes to prison is now set for May 19. 

Under the terms of his plea deal, Brave agreed to two suspended terms of three and a half to seven years on the theft and falsifying physical evidence convictions. But he still faces up to 14 years on the perjury charges. That sentence will be argued in court.

Other charges that Brave later lied to the court in Rockingham County are being dismissed as part of the deal. The disgraced lawman agreed to make $18,969 in restitution to Strafford County, surrender all his law enforcement certifications, never seek employment in law enforcement in any jurisdiction, be placed on a national registry of decertified police officers, and not contest his placement on New Hampshire’s Exculpatory Evidence Schedule. 

Brave, the Strafford County Democrat who became New Hampshire’s first Black sheriff, faced decades in prison after he got caught. He compounded his troubles by lying to investigators, the grand jury, the press, and the courts, according to court records.

Those lies have cost Brave his career in law enforcement, his marriage, and his political standing as a rising star in the state Democratic Party.

Facing criminal charges for stealing political signs he didn’t like, Stratham Democrat Committee Chair Jonathan Caldwell claims Democrats have special rights over political sign real estate.

But that did stop police from arresting and charging Caldwell, 72, and Stratham Democrat Committee Secretary Heidi Hanson, 53, with Class B misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property. The charges were brought after Caldwell was caught on video stealing a political sign from state-owned public land in Stratham, and Hanson got caught with another sign that had an electronic tracker attached.

“Since 2018, our town committee has been granted explicit permission by the Stratham Circle property owners to place signs of Democratic candidates during election season,” Caldwell said in a statement issued by the Stratham Democratic Committee.

But the lot in question is the state-owned section of the Stratham traffic circle where political signs are allowed. Caldwell got caught in November removing a sign Republican Peter Lessels had put up in the circle. 

“This is what should be,” Lessels told Seacoastonline. “If you’re going to be involved in politics, play by the rules. And I believe that for both sides. If Republicans take signs, the same thing should happen.”

Lessels first placed a sign on the traffic circle close to signs for Democratic candidates. Lessels’ sign alerted people to the fact that all of the candidates “Supports men in women’s sports.”

“They do support that. That’s just a fact,” Lessels told NHJournal in November.

After that sign was stolen, Lessels placed another and spotted Caldwell taking it a few hours after it was placed. Lessels confronted Caldwell about taking the sign. In an interaction caught on video, Caldwell said the owners of a nearby antiques store wanted the sign removed. 

In his “official statement” following the arrest, Caldwell again claimed the property abutters had asked him to remove the offending sign.

After telling Caldwell he was breaking the law, Lessels followed Caldwell’s car and called police. Caldwell was soon pulled over and the sign found in the trunk of his car.

A third sign Lessels put up was also stolen, but this time he had placed a tracker on this sign. Lessels contacted police, again, who reportedly quickly found the stolen sign at Hanson’s home, with the tracker still attached.

Both Caldwell and Hanson are due to be formally arraigned in March. If convicted, they do not face any jail time for the misdemeanors. The maximum possible penalty is a $1,200 fine. 

On the last day of campaigning, Republican Kelly Ayotte was out on the road with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, making stops at grocery stores and pizza shops.

Democrat Joyce Craig, on the other hand, held three closed-door events with progressive Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a frequent campaign sidekick of Craig’s. The two even took a road trip to the West Coast to raise money from liberal Democrats in Berkeley, Calif.

“Craig has welcomed Healey’s backing,” the liberal Boston Globe reported Monday.

It’s a political partnership the Ayotte campaign is happy to talk about in the final hours of the campaign.

“Joyce Craig wants to raise taxes by $160 million and spends her time campaigning with Maura Healey,” Ayotte campaign spokesman John Corbett said in a statement. “If you didn’t know better, you’d think she’s running to be governor of Massachusetts, not New Hampshire.”

From the beginning of her bid for governor, Ayotte has embraced the slogan “Don’t MASS Up New Hampshire.” It’s a message that appears to resonate with voters. In a recent UMass Lowell poll, 55 percent of Republicans say the Granite State is “at great risk” of becoming too much like Massachusetts in the next 10 years.

So, Team Ayotte was more than happy to send its candidate with Sununu to Alley Cat Pizzeria in Manchester and the Market Basket in Hooksett, while Craig campaigned with Healey in Exeter, Manchester, and Nashua.

When a NHJournal reporter showed up at the Healey event in Nashua on Monday, he was told it was a “closed event.” Outside, a small group of Republicans waved “Don’t MASS Up New Hampshire” signs, inspiring honks and thumbs up from passing drivers.

Among the sign wavers was New Hampshire GOP chair Chris Ager.

“Why not campaign with — and for — Granite Staters?” Ager asked as he stood outside. “Not only was the Massachusetts governor campaigning for Craig, most of the cars in the parking lot were from Massachusetts, too. Who will Joyce Craig owe if she wins?”

During their campaign stop in Manchester, Ayotte and Sununu were asked about Craig wrapping up her race with Healey.

“You have to wonder, why do you (Craig) have so many events with the governor of Massachusetts?” Ayotte asked. “I just came from knocking doors in Ward 6, talking to independents and other voters. You have to be ready to talk to any voter. That’s what this is all about: earning their support.”

Sununu jumped in, too.

“Kelly spends 100 percent of her time talking to people from New Hampshire because that’s what matters. Joyce Craig, on the other hand, spends all of her time with people from Massachusetts and New York.”

Asked about the mood of the electorate, Sununu said there is excitement among Republican voters, “and it’s absolutely palpable.”

“When you knocked on the doors, say, a month ago, a lot of folks weren’t opening their doors. It’s like it was almost too far from the election.

“But with Kelly out knocking on doors, they’re opening the doors. The people we talk to are independent, and they’re excited. Whether it’s Manchester, Nashua — everybody is coming out. There’s going to be really high turnout. But the energy, specifically among Republicans for these races, is very real.”

And Sununu believes Republicans are going to have a good night, too, predicting a win for the GOP in the races for governor, control of the state legislature, and the Executive Council. And, he says, the numbers are good for Trump in New Hampshire as well.

“I look at 2016 because I think that’s more of a comparable race to today,” Sununu said. “They’re all leaning the Republican’s way. So, give me Trump’s poll numbers, which are definitely closer today than they were in 2016.”

Ayotte wasn’t prepared to make a grand declaration.

“I’m just going to work to earn every vote. Just keep working.”

A top Stratham Democrat Jonathan Caldwell got caught red-handed over the weekend stealing a political sign put up by a Republican voter.

That Republican, Peter Lessels, is now pushing to have Caldwell charged.

“I filed a report with the police,” Lessels told NHJournal.

Caldwell chaired the Stratham Town Democratic Committee as recently as 2022, and is listed as Democratic state Sen. Debra Altschiller’s campaign treasurer. He could not be reached for comment.

Last week, Lessels put up a large, homemade sign near the campaign signs for several Democrats with the message that they “Supports men in women’s sports.” Lessels’ sign featured the message and arrows pointing to the Democrats’ signs.

“They do support that. That’s just a fact,” Lessels said.

The area where the signs are going up is public property on a traffic circle in Stratham. Lessels said political signs are allowed on that property.

Lessels’ sign disappeared after a few days. It’s not the first time Lessels dealt with sign theft. He was part of Republican Don Bolduc’s 2022 campaign for U.S. Senate and had numerous signs stolen or damaged during that effort.

Lessels made a replacement sign and put it up in the same spot Sunday morning. A few hours later, he was driving nearby and spotted a man taking the sign out of the ground and putting it in his car. 

Lessels confronted the man he later identified as Caldwell about taking the sign. In an interaction caught on video, Caldwell said the owners of a nearby antiques store wanted Lessels’ sign removed. 

Unless a political sign is put up illegally, such as on private property without permission, or public property where signs are not allowed, no one can remove those signs.

“That’s illegal,” Lessels said.

Lessels followed Caldwell’s car and called police, who eventually stopped Caldwell. Lessels said the officer had Caldwell open his car trunk, found the sign and confiscated it as evidence.

The Stratham Democrat isn’t new to politics, or to campaign complaints. In 2022, he had a visit from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office about his campaign finance reports, according to Department of Justice records. Caldwell was issued a warning letter due to problems with the committee’s finance reports, including missing information about donors, and an unexplained $890 surplus. Caldwell blamed the previous committee treasurer for the errors. He also blamed a local Republican for creating controversy by filing the complaint in the first place.

“As I noted to Investigator [Richard] Tracy, this complaint is from an aggrieved State Rep candidate who came in fourth of four in the 2020 election. To what end, other than petty harassment? There is clearly no intentional malfeasance,” Caldwell wrote to Deputy General Counsel Myles Matteson.

Sign stealing during campaign season is both illegal and frequent. This summer, state Rep. Scott Wallace (R-Danville) was charged with multiple misdemeanors for allegedly stealing or damaging campaign signs in Brentwood. 

“Unfortunately, ’tis the season,” Brentwood Police Lt. Justin Doty said.

Wallace did not respond to requests for comment from NHJournal. 

United States District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ruled again Tuesday to prevent New Hampshire from enforcing its law keeping biological males from participating in girls sports.

The judge extended a temporary order allowing 15-year-old Parker Tirrell to play on the Plymouth High School girls soccer team. Tirrell and 14-year-old Iris Turmelle have filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.

When Gov. Chris Sununu signed the law last month, he made New Hampshire the 26th state to pass laws protecting girls sports from male athletes.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and his office are defending the law, both in New Hampshire and at the national level. His attorneys are in court before Judge McCafferty, and he’s joined 25 other state attorneys general urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue.

“We remain committed to vigorously defending this new law and will determine next steps once the Court issues its order,” Formella said.

In New Hampshire, both sides have requested a bench trial, rather than a jury trial. McCafferty signaled during Tuesday’s hearing she will likely rule in favor of Tirrell and Turmelle, saying she believes the New Hampshire law violates Title IX, the law that protects women’s sports, and Title XII, the law against employment discrimination. 

If McCafferty does strike down the law, the decision to pursue an appeal will almost certainly be made by New Hampshire’s next governor. And if it is a Democrat, it’s all but certain the law will be allowed to die and girls will be competing against biological males once again.

Neither former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig nor Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington would respond to questions about this case from NHJournal. However, they’ve both made it clear they oppose the new law.

“These bills are an attack on at-risk trans kids across New Hampshire. Our state needs leadership focused on delivering results, not division. As governor, I will always stand up for the right of our residents to live authentically, without demonization,” Craig said.

Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, who is challenging Craig in the Democratic primary, linked banning boys from girls sports teams to violent hate crimes when the law was signed this summer.

“We’ve seen a rise in hate crimes against our LGBTQ+ community, in part because radical Republicans have villainized trans kids who’re already vulnerable & at a higher risk of suicide. When I’m governor, everyone will be free to love who they love & be who they are,” Warmington said on social media.

The two GOP candidates for governor have a very different view.

Chuck Morse, running against Kelly Ayotte in the GOP primary, says he’d fight for an appeal if elected.

“As governor, I would absolutely pursue an appeal if the court finds against the state. It is a question of fairness and protecting the rights of women to play sports on a level playing field. To me it is simple: boys should play against boys and girls should play against girls,” Morse said.

Ayotte agrees.

“As the only candidate for governor who has actually argued before the Supreme Court, I will do whatever it takes to defend our state. As the proud mom of a three-sport state champion female athlete, I believe protecting women’s sports is a matter of fairness. Women fought for decades to achieve that fairness through Title IX. When I am governor, New Hampshire’s female athletes will have a champion in the Corner Office,” Ayotte said.

Polls show Granite Staters overwhelmingly support allowing girls to compete in girls-only sports, rather than forcing them to compete against biological males who identify as female. It’s not just theory, either. A biological male took first place in the girls high jump competition earlier this year, beating every female in the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) indoor track and field championship.

At the global level, the top two boxers in women’s Olympic boxing both had male chromosomes.

Lawyers for Tirrell and Turmelle want to block the law from taking effect throughout the state, arguing that stopping transgender girls from playing girls sports is discriminatory.

“This law was designed to prevent trans girls from playing sports with other girls … The only difference is their sex assigned at birth. Girls not assigned female at birth are being excluded,” said Chris Erchull, an attorney with GLAD, the GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders organization which is representing Tirrell and Turmelle.

Assistant Attorney General Micheal DeGrandis argued legal precedent allows public institutions, like schools, to make distinctions between boys and girls. The New Hampshire law makes that distinction in an objective, equitable manner by requiring every student to play on sports teams that correspond to their biological sex at birth.

“We’re not trying to define ‘sex’ at all, we’re just saying ‘What does it say on your birth certificate,’” DeGrandis explained.

While the law might mean students like Tirrell and Turmelle are required to play coed sports instead, that does not make the law unconstitutional. The law was crafted as a way to protect competitive fairness in girls sports, and to keep biological girls safe from possible injury, DeGrandis said.

“There was no discriminatory intent or animus. This was an attempt to solve legitimate problems, even if people disagree with the best way to do it,” DeGrandis said.

The appropriate remedy for those opposed to the law should not be in court, DeGrandis said, but in the democratic political process, who noted there is an election happening in a few months.

“The Court should not be making decisions for the legislature,”  he said.

McCafferty extended the temporary restraining order that allows Tirrell to practice and play soccer with the girls team for another two weeks. McCafferty could rule on an injunction the teens are seeking against the law during that time. That injunction would likely be in place through any trial.

New Hampshire’s Supreme Court ruled this week that Granite State courts have seen enough of Portsmouth attorney Justin Nadeau, disbarring him after he was caught doctoring evidence in his ethics case before the Professional Conduct Committee.

“It’s difficult for me to imagine something worse for a lawyer to do,” one PCC member said, according to the court records.

Nadeau, once a Democratic candidate in the First Congressional District, was brought before the PCC after he allegedly got a client who was impaired by a traumatic brain injury, Exeter woman Shawn Fahey, to give him $300,000 in loans in 2018. Nadeau allegedly secured the loans with a condo he did not own, tax liens, and the anticipated proceeds from a pending defamation lawsuit he had against the Portsmouth Police Department.

Nadeau allegedly told Fahey until the defamation lawsuit was resolved he was “strapped for cash.”

The lawsuit against Portsmouth’s police stems from an arrest of Portsmouth man Christian Jennings. Jennings was allegedly found with quantities of marijuana, Ecstasy, amphetamines, a loaded gun, and $42,000 in cash. According to police, Nadeau was handling an $85,000 marina investment for Jennings before the arrest, though the marina deal never closed. Nadeau brought the lawsuit when police opened an investigation into whether or not he was laundering drug money. The defamation case was settled in 2019.

Nadeau also allegedly hid the $165,000 he collected after he sent Fahey to a Massachusetts attorney to handle her injury case. Nadeau reportedly collected referral fees from the Massachusetts attorney as well as other money related to Fahey’s case.

According to the Supreme Court’s disbarment order released Tuesday, Nadeau slow-walked producing documents related to the case to the PCC. The Democrat even destroyed his computer before the hearing. Nadeau claims he made all the appropriate conflict of interest disclosures and eventually produced printed copies of the letter he claimed he sent her.

However, James Berriman, the computer expert hired by the PCC, looked through Nadeau’s office server and found the dates on the documents Nadeau gave to the committee were fake, and the documents were created well after he took the money from Fahey.

“As a member of the PCC observed at oral argument before the PCC, ‘the Berriman Report and the spoliation of evidence, in my mind . . . is one of the most significant violations I have seen in decades of practice before the ADO before joining this committee,’” the court ruling states.

Nadeau argued that disbarment is too harsh a penalty, but the Court found that his “deliberate, multi-year effort to deceive the disciplinary authority” and the ethics complaints involved in Fahey’s case make un-lawyering him appropriate.

Nadeau’s father, J.P. Nadeau, agreed to resign from the New Hampshire Bar Association in 2009 after he was investigated for a conflict of interest for representing a construction company involved in a dispute with Justin Nadeau.

Nadeau once had hopes of higher office, running an ultimately unsuccessful campaign against then-Congressman Jeb Bradley (R). Nadeau’s campaign was spearheaded by Steve Marchand, Portsmouth’s former mayor who ,himself went on to unsuccessful runs for higher office. In recent years, Marchand has been warned by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office for skirting campaign laws.

After taking heat for picking the $180 million design for the proposed new Strafford County Nursing Home over a $50 million bid, and then saying he never saw the less expensive bid, Commissioner George Maglaras said Wednesday the low bid wasn’tould work.

“The commission picked the firm we thought had a track record of building larger nursing homes and there are other written responses required within the answering of the RFP,” Maglaras told NHJournal.

Republican members of the Strafford County Delegation blasted Maglaras, a Democrat, and the two other Democratic Commissioners this week after learning about the lower bid from EGA Architects. Rep. Cliff Newton said the Commission kept him and other delegates in the dark about the lower-cost bid on the 215-bed proposal.

“Strafford County Commissioners and administration never informed the delegation of the EGA’s lower cost plan. Instead, they chose a much more expensive and institutionalized building plan without exploring different options that would have been acceptable to the entire delegation,” Newton said.

When contacted Tuesday about the EGA bid, Maglaras initially told The Rochester Voice he never saw EGA’s bid. That’s despite the fact the NHJournal found records showing the Commission was presented with all six bids, including EGA’s, on the project in 2022 when they voted to go with Warrenstreet. By Wednesday, Maglaras blamed politics for the kerfuffle, and said he was misunderstood.

“I said that there was never a $40 million proposal put before us,” Maglaras said. “These claims by some of the Republican members are misguided and are inflammatory and political in nature.”

According to Maglaras, the EGA bid quoted the Commission a cost of $350 a square foot to build the new home. But that number was never going to work, he said. EGA cited its work building the Carroll County Nursing Homes 10 years ago in its bid to Strafford. However, the construction company hired by EGA in Carroll told a slightly different story, Maglaras said.

“I brought in Bonnette, Page and Stone who was the contractor that actually built the Carroll County Nursing Home designed by EGA and they told the entire delegation in a public meeting it would cost $600 a square foot to construct a similar facility today and that the (Carroll County) home does not meet present federal design standards,” Maglaras said. “Architects don’t build buildings, construction companies do. You need to compare apples to apples not apples to cherries.

Comparing Maglaras’ math, that means the EGA bid would have cost as much as $83 million at $600 per square foot, instead of the $50 million the company quoted. The Warrentstreet project costs close to $1,300 per square foot.

The Republicans on the delegation have twice blocked the Commission from getting bonds for the $180 million proposal, and the Nursing Home project is currently stalled out. Maglaras wants to see the project get back on track.

“We have offered to meet with all the parties to see if we can’t move the process forward. The offer still stands and we will be reaching out to them,” Maglaras said.

The criminal case against former Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave is moving into the next phase as a grand jury returned eight felony indictments on Friday.

Brave is accused of stealing $19,000 in county money, tampering with evidence, and multiple counts of perjury. Brave was charged in August. The indictments effectively mean a grand jury confirmed the charges had merit. That clears the way for trial.

Brave resigned as sheriff last week after prosecutors caught him lying about living outside New Hampshire. Brave violated his bail when he moved to an apartment in Tewksbury, Mass., in October.

The move also meant Brave was legally ineligible to serve as an elected county sheriff. Brave went on paid administrative leave in August and had been collecting his pay until last week. He reportedly took home more than $10,000 since moving out of state.

Assistant Attorney General Joe Fincham and Assistant Attorney General David Lovejoy accused Brave of stealing taxpayer money by collecting his salary while living in Massachusetts. The prosecutors pushed to get Brave’s personal recognizance bail revoked until he quit the job.

Lief Becker, Brave’s attorney, said the resignation corrected the residency problem, and prosecutors dropped the move to send Brave to jail pre-trial.

Fincham and Lovejoy still want Brave to face consequences for reportedly lying to the court about where he lives and about his finances. Though he managed to stay out of jail by quitting his job, the prosecutors want Brave to face a contempt hearing for his other lies discovered in recent weeks.

Rockingham Superior Court Judge Daniel St. Hilaire revoked Brave’s free public defender last month as prosecutors showed he lied about being unable to afford private counsel, telling the court in October he couldn’t afford it. However, at the start of October, he reportedly paid more than $50,000 upfront for a year’s rent on the Tewksbury apartment. Later that month, Brave bought himself a 1968 Porsche 356.

When investigators went to the Dover apartment where Brave told the court he resided, they spoke to his now ex-wife, Jamie Brave. That was when they learned Mark Brave no longer lived in New Hampshire, and that he came into a substantial amount of money from selling the couple’s Dover home.

According to Jamie Brave, both she and her husband walked away from the sale of their home with $240,000 apiece. Brave also got the couple’s Mercedes SUV in their divorce agreement. And while Brave claimed he was paying tuition for two of his three children, Jamie Brave told the investigators he was paying for one child’s tuition.

On the public defender application, Mark Brave claimed he got $190,000 from the house sale and ended up with $3,500 after he used his money to pay off marital debts.

Whatever sanctions are on the table for the contempt hearing, they pale to the theft case, where he faces a lengthy prison sentence if convicted.

The indictments handed up by the grand jury include a Class A felony theft charge, two Class B felony charges of falsifying physical evidence, and five Class B felony charges of perjury. Class A felonies carry potential seven-and-a-half to 15-year prison sentences, and Class B felonies come with three-and-a-half to seven-year terms.