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The bail magistrate who reportedly ignored red flags to allow repeat offender Michael Gleason Jr. to walk free before he murdered his wife, Marisol Fuentes, is no longer on the job.

“Stephanie Johnson is not an employee of the New Hampshire Judicial Branch. The branch has two magistrate positions that are currently vacant,” Av Harris, public information officer for the New Hampshire Judicial Branch, told NHJournal Tuesday.

Johnson was one of three magistrates appointed late last year when the position was created. Now, the only bail magistrate still working is Frank Weeks, Harris said.

Executive Councilor John Stephen (R-Manchester) first broke the news on the Jack Heath radio show Tuesday morning.

“I received a message this morning from the court that this magistrate has been released and is no longer employed by the court,” Stephen told the radio host. Later in the day, the councilor issued a statement welcoming Johnson’s exit. Stephen and others wanted Johnson gone over her handling of Gleason’s bail, as well as her mishandling of a Manchester stabbing case months earlier.

“This is just the first step in solving the gaps in our criminal justice system that leave victims vulnerable to further violence,” Stephen said.

Gleason murdered Fuentes on July 6 inside the La Casita Mexican restaurant in Berlin, where she worked. He then took his shotgun into a bathroom and killed himself.

Johnson granted $5,000 cash bail for Gleason, 50, in April when he was charged with sexually assaulting Fuentes, kidnapping her, and stealing her cell phone and $8,000 in cash she was saving. At the time, the Berlin Police wanted Gleason held on bail, but Johnson allowed him to post cash bail instead.

The Internal Review Committee appointed by Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald to investigate the murder found Johnson could have determined, based on the evidence she had, that Gleason was a danger to Fuentes in April and had him held on preventive detention.

“Implicit in the magistrate’s decision was a determination that it had not been shown by clear and convincing evidence that Gleason posed a danger to himself or to the public. The Committee concludes, however, that sufficient evidence existed to hold Gleason in preventive detention,” the report states.

Johnson, Weeks, and Jaye Duncan were appointed as magistrates in December as part of Gov. Chris Sununu’s second attempt at bail reform. The magistrates were supposed to relieve pressure on judges by presiding over bail hearings on nights and weekends.

Gov. Kelly Ayotte pushed for major changes to the bail system once she took office in January, citing repeat, violent offenders getting out of jail thanks to the failed bail reform law. Starting Sept. 21, magistrates will no longer preside over bail hearings under the change Ayotte pushed.

The committee report cites numerous other problems in the way court officials and police officers treated Gleason and Fuentes between April and the July 6 murder. Stephen said that with Johnson gone, it’s time to review the entire system to ensure that victims are protected.

Court officials, judges, lawyers, and police officers all need better training on how to treat domestic violence victims; the courts need better technology to share information in real time so that troubling facts can be communicated; and there needs to be a way to make sure police enforce court orders in domestic violence and stalking cases. Gleason was ordered four times between April and the July murder to hand over his guns and knives, but there is no record from police that ever happened. Above all, Stephen said, there needs to be greater oversight of New Hampshire’s judges.

“We must implement a mechanism outside of the judicial branch to keep them accountable and ensure they’re fulfilling their duties in maintaining the public trust,” Stephen said.

Stephen and Executive Councilor Joe Kenney (R-Wakefield) will meet with Attorney General John Formella, Department of Safety Commissioner Robert Quinn, Police Standards and Training Executive Director John Scippa, and others on Sept. 4 to discuss ways to continue the efforts to protect victims.

“While the failed bail experiment comes to an end, I know that everyone in our state government is committed to further strengthening and improving our systems in order to protect victims and ensure violent offenders aren’t released onto the streets to perpetrate further violence,” Stephen said. “Marisol will not be brought back by the work we are doing—but her legacy will be an incredibly impactful one across the state, and the work this tragedy inspired will save lives.”

New Hampshire Supreme Court Associate Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi is facing two felonies for allegedly trying to influence the criminal investigation into her husband, New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors Director Geno Marconi.

“No person is above the law, and the evidence in this case required investigation and presentation to the grand jury,” said Attorney General John Formella. “The decision to charge a sitting justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court was not made lightly, and it comes after careful and thoughtful deliberation. It is my hope that the public will be reassured that all individuals, including public officials, are treated equally under the law.”

According to the indictments, during a June meeting Hantz Marconi tried to get Gov. Chris Sununu to stop the investigation into Geno Marconi by using Sununu’s influence with the New Hampshire Department of Justice. She allegedly told Sununu there was no merit to any of the allegations against her husband and the case “needed to wrap up quickly because she was recused from important cases pending or imminently pending before the New Hampshire Supreme Court,” the indictments state.

Hantz Marconi’s attorneys Richard Guerriero, Jonathan Kotlier, and Oliver Bloom issued a statement shortly after the indictments were announced proclaiming her innocence.  

“Justice Hantz Marconi is innocent. She did not violate any law or rule. We will fight the charges to the fullest extent permitted by the law, starting with motions to dismiss the case, which we anticipate filing soon. We intend to fight these wrongful accusations in court, where the fight should occur, and not in the media,” the statement reads.

Hantz Marconi was suspended from her job on the high court this summer, though at the time there was no explanation for her sudden removal. The deadline for her 90-day administrative was pending for later this month. 

Geno Marconi was suspended from his job by the Pease Development Authority Board this spring, and again, without a public explanation. A grand jury has reportedly heard evidence against Geno Marconi. So far, no charges have been filed. 

The indictments claim Hantz Marconi interfered with the investigation on multiple occasions starting in April, tried to get Sununu to pressure the Department of Justice, and tried to get privileged information out of Pease Development Authority Chair Steve Duprey about her husband’s case.

She is charged with two class B felonies – one count of Attempt to Commit Improper Influence and one count of Criminal Solicitation of Improper Influence, as well as five class A misdemeanors – two counts of Criminal Solicitation of Misuse of Position, one count of Criminal Solicitation of Official Oppression, one count of Official Oppression, and one count of Obstructing Government Administration. 

Class B felonies are punishable by up to 3.5 to 7 years in state prison and a fine of up to $4,000. Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to 12 months in a house of corrections and a fine of up to $2,000.

She is now scheduled to appear in Merrimack Superior Court on Nov. 21 for arraignment. 

Democratic U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan continue to support the nomination of Michael A. Delaney to serve on the federal bench. This despite a brutal Senate hearing focused on his demand that an underage sexual assault victim be stripped of her anonymity in a case against St. Paul’s School.

Delaney, nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, was introduced to the Senate Judiciary Committee by the two New Hampshire Democrats. In a statement praising his nomination last month the senators wrote, “Michael Delaney is exceedingly qualified to serve as a judge…We believe he is well suited for this role and would serve honorably – we urge the Senate to confirm him swiftly.”

The Republicans on the committee had a different view.

“I’m astounded you’ve been nominated,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) “People who put sexual assault victims through this kind of torture shouldn’t sit on the bench.”

At issue is Delaney’s work on behalf of the elite Concord prep school in the alleged sexual assault case brought by Chessy Prout. St. Paul School student Owen Labrie was convicted of assaulting her during the school’s annual “Senior Salute,” a school ritual in which senior boys solicit sex from freshman girls. Labrie denied the rape charge but admitted in court he bragged to friends that he had sex with the then-15-year-old Prout.

The elite Episcopalian boarding school, which counts former Sec. of State John Kerry among its graduates, has been rocked with a series of sexual assault allegations in recent years. 

Chessy’s parents Alex and Susan Prout filed a civil lawsuit after Labrie’s conviction on statutory rape and other charges, arguing the school failed to “meet its most basic obligation to protect the children entrusted to its care.” They also claimed school administrators knew about the “Senior Salute” tradition. Delaney represented the school in the civil suit which St. Paul’s settled for an undisclosed amount in 2018.

The family claimed Delaney used a request that the court out the victim by name as a threat to intimidate her from participating in the lawsuit. During his hearing, Delaney denied ever asking the court to take that step. However, when confronted by Sen. Ted Cruz acknowledged he did ask the court to strip Chessy of her anonymity, but only if the case went all the way to trial.

“This hearing isn’t going very well for you,” Cruz told the nominee. “There’s a reason why virtually every Democrat has skipped this hearing. They’re embarrassed about this nomination.” Only two of the 11 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee attended.

Several Republican senators read from a letter sent to the committee by Chessy Prout.

“Michael Delaney is not ethically qualified to sit on the bench,” Prout wrote. “A lawyer who practices victim intimidation is doing nothing for the greater good of the community; he stands in the way of justice and furthermore keeps his community in a toxic cycle of harm and silence.”

She isn’t alone in opposing Delaney’s nomination. Monika Johnson Hostler and Terri Poore with the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence said Delaney’s efforts on behalf of St. Paul’s School promoted the culture of silence on the elite campus by attempting to silence victims.

“When Mr. Delaney represented St. Paul’s School in a lawsuit brought by a minor survivor, he made a proactive motion to make the minor survivor’s name public. We find this deeply problematic both in terms of the impact on the particular survivor as well as the message it sends to survivors in general. We are trying to create a culture where survivors feel encouraged to seek healing and justice. This type of motion does the opposite,” Johnson Hostler and Poore wrote to the Committee.

The hearing had no impact on the New Hampshire congressional delegation, which continued to support Delaney.

Delaney, former legal counsel to Democratic Gov. John Lynch and a former New Hampshire attorney general, is currently director and Chair of the Litigation Department of McLane Middleton, one of the state’s premier law firms. He is also a regular contributor to New Hampshire Democratic politicians.

While neither Shaheen nor Hassan sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, they have been outspoken about the past behavior of previous federal court nominees — when they were Republicans. Hassan gave a scathing speech on the floor of the Senate opposing the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court.

“Any individual nominated to the court must be subject to scrutiny on the totality of their record, their temperament, and their past actions,” Hassan said in 2018. “Yet – throughout the process of this nomination, my colleagues in the majority have made clear that they will stop at nothing to get Judge Kavanaugh on the court. No matter his record. No matter his temperament. No matter his character.”

Shaheen, when voting against Kavanaugh’s nomination, said all victims of sexual assault deserve better treatment.

“These wounds are real. The wounds are raw. And it is incumbent on all of us in this body, regardless of where you stand on Brett Kavanaugh; it’s incumbent on all of us to not deepen those scars by diminishing the pain of these women as political theatre. This is not political theater, and it should not be viewed through a partisan lens,” Shaheen said.

Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas are also a “no comment” on Delaney’s nomination.

The allegations against Kavanaugh — including the claim he ran a secret “gang rape” club while in high school — have proven to be unfounded.

GOP operative Chuck McGee said the apparent lack of Democratic opposition to Delaney’s nomination exposes the hypocrisy in the party. Democrats are only willing to stand with women and sexual assault survivors when it’s politically convenient, he said.

“Are (Shaheen and Hassan) going to stand on party lines or do the right thing and stand with the voices of the survivors,” McGee said.

McGee, the father of three daughters, said New Hampshire voters have a right to know what Hassan and Shaheen are thinking when it comes to Delaney’s nomination and if they will take a stand with survivors or not.

“Let’s really make it count when we say we’re going to support victims of sex assault, not just when it is convenient,” McGee said.