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Welcome to Nashua, where you can make any political statement you want — so long as city officials approve. Just as the Founding Fathers intended.

The Gate City’s attorney, Steve Bolton, stood before a three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Tuesday and acknowledged that the city is discriminating against symbols it doesn’t like. That includes Steve and Beth Scaer’s Pine Tree flag.

Nashua found itself in federal court this week thanks to its 2024 rejection of the Scaers’ application to fly the Revolutionary War-era flag on the so-called citizens’ flagpole in front of City Hall.

“We agree that there is viewpoint discrimination,” Bolton told the court. “When a flag is raised under the new policy, it’s right in front of City Hall. It’s right on Main Street. Passersby will say, ‘There’s City Hall, look! What kind of a place is Nashua if they’re flying this symbol, or that symbol, or some other symbol that is generally not regarded as savory?”

But Bolton’s argument is precisely the reason Nashua is in court, according to Judge Sandra Lynch, who sat on Tuesday’s panel. Lynch called Nashua’s flag policy the “essence of viewpoint discrimination.”

“Here’s the problem, counselor. Nashua has chosen to fly, on what are known as the citizens’ flagpoles, flags that are brought to it by private speakers who own the flags, who design the flags, and who come up with a message that the flags display. And then the government is using the force of government to choose among those viewpoints, and that is what government cannot do,” Lynch said to Bolton.

The Scaers, well-known conservative activists, wanted to fly the Pine Tree flag in the summer of 2024 to commemorate New Hampshire citizens who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. But the city rejected their application on the grounds that the banner — which has been embraced by some far-right activists — “is not in harmony with the message that the City wishes to express and endorse.”

Nashua’s government is under no legal obligation to allow speech it does not approve of on the citizens’ flagpole, Bolton said, since anything displayed at City Hall is considered government speech and not free speech.

“If this is government speech, which we say it is, the government is not required to give air time to opposing views,” Bolton said.

Nathan Ristuccia, the Institute for Free Speech attorney representing the Scaers, told the justices that Nashua is effectively killing a message it dislikes under the guise of government speech.

“A government cannot turn private speech into government speech simply by exercising final approval authority over that speech,” Ristuccia said.

Ristuccia and the Scaers want the 1st Circuit to overturn the March decision by U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty that allowed Nashua to label any displays flown on the citizens’ flagpole as government speech subject to government control. McCafferty’s decision relied on the flagpole policy games Nashua played, Ristuccia argued.

“This demonstrates that Nashua’s attempt was to do exactly what the Supreme Court warned against — attempting to expand government speech in such a way as to cover all limited public forums,” Ristuccia said.

From 2017 through 2022, Nashua allowed residents to fly flags at the City Hall Plaza with no written policy for oversight or content restriction. Nashua created a written policy in 2022 to give officials veto power over the public flagpole in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the city of Boston for its refusal to fly a Christian flag. Nashua used that policy to reject the Pine Tree flag.

But when the Scaers challenged the rejection with their lawsuit last year, Nashua changed its policy yet again. The new 2024 policy states that flagpoles “shall henceforth be exclusively controlled by city government” and that Nashua “does not seek input from other sources” about what to fly. The 2024 policy still allows people to apply to fly their flags on city property — so long as the government approves of the message.

The 1772 Pine Tree Riot took place in Weare and is considered a preview of the conflict that led to the American Revolution. The flag was flown during the war by members of the Continental Army and has long been associated with patriotic movements and resistance to authoritarianism.

Former Democratic lawmaker Stacie Marie Laughton, who made history as the nation’s first transgender state representative, is set to make history again as the state’s first legislator to spend decades behind bars on federal child pornography convictions.

Laughton, 41, born Barry Laughton, took a plea deal last week in the sickening case that’s kept him behind bars since 2023. Laughton could now get up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of child sex abuse images — images provided by ex-girlfriend and co-defendant Lindsay Groves, 40.

Groves entered into her own plea agreement last month, admitting to sending Laughton explicit photos of children she was supposed to be minding at the Massachusetts daycare where she worked. The couple is now set to be sentenced in February in the federal court in Boston.

Laughton and Groves share a messy history as a couple, along with their horrific sexual tastes. According to court records, Laughton repeatedly tried to get Groves fired from her daycare job during a 2022 breakup, claiming Groves was a pedophile. Laughton reported Groves to the police and additionally used his social media and radio program to accuse Groves of pedophilia, according to court records.

Those 2022 accusations were deemed false and ended up being part of the November 2022 stalking case against Laughton that landed the Nashua politician behind bars weeks after his election to the House. Democrats waited weeks to finally push Laughton to resign his seat that December.

But a year after Laughton’s accusations were seemingly discounted, the pair were arrested for actual pedophilia. According to court records, Groves had been texting Laughton nude photos of children from her daycare in the spring of 2022 as Laughton mused about child rape.

“I just don’t wanna get in trouble. I mean I want to do what we want to do because we like it and we approve of it but others think this is wrong. Lots of parents don’t like people touching their kids and it is against the law …” Laughton texted to Groves.

Laughton and Groves are unlikely to see each other again for some time. Groves is a biological woman and has been held in women’s facilities during the pre-trial incarceration. Laughton, on the other hand, has been held in men’s facilities since his 2023 arrest.

The convictions effectively close the possibility of a third act for the Nashua Democrat. First elected in 2012, Laughton was forced to resign when his criminal past was uncovered. At the time of the 2012 election, Laughton was still on probation for a 2008 felony credit card fraud conviction, and therefore ineligible for office under New Hampshire law.

But Laughton returned to politics in 2019 after finally paying the court-ordered $2,000 restitution in the credit card fraud case, and was again elected to the House in 2020. State Democrats and voters seemed willing to overlook Laughton’s 2015 conviction for making bomb threats against Southern New Hampshire Medical Center. 

Laughton’s second act ended with the 2022 stalking case, which resulted in a suspended jail sentence. 

Progressive activist and filmmaker Grace Gato stopped at the Hudson Town Clerk’s Office last November with her mother’s signed absentee ballot application so the elderly Democrat could strike a blow against Donald Trump in the election.

“I’m dropping this off for my mother so she can vote,” Gato reportedly said.

Only one problem: Gatos’s mother, Ruby Cecilia Ponce, was dead. She had passed away about a week earlier.

And despite how Chicago may or may not run its elections, deceased Americans are not legally eligible to vote in New Hampshire.

That fact was pressed upon Gato, 44, on Friday when she was arrested, charged with the misdemeanor crime of wrongful voting.

Now, Gato says her act was merely an homage to her anti-Trump mother, not a sincere  — or legally binding — effort to actually cast a ballot. “It was a symbolic act, not a political one,” Gato says.

In a post on her Substack, Gato weaves a tale of a daughter trying to honor her mother’s dying wish.

“On her deathbed, she made a simple request: ‘Get my ballot,’” Gato wrote. “She had voted in every election for decades, often while hooked to dialysis, determined to do her civic duty even when the system had failed her. When she passed, I went to the Hudson Town Clerk’s office to retrieve her absentee ballot — not to fill it out, not to submit it, but to bury it with her.”

And, she adds, she never crossed the line into violating the law.

“No ballot was signed. None was mailed. No fraudulent vote was ever cast,” Gato wrote.

Gato’s defense — that she planned to bury her mother with the absentee ballot, not vote with it — is a novel one. But it doesn’t appear to be supported by the facts. 

The affidavit from New Hampshire Attorney General Election Law Unit Investigator Cristina Ostrowski points out that a few days before Ponce died on Oct. 15, 2024, Gato made clear on Twitter/X that her mother was going to vote against President Donald Trump.

“My mom is a WWII baby who is going to miss WWIII. She made sure she voted absentee ballot while in hospice care. I just have to mail it. She said make sure that son of a bitch doesn’t win,” Gato wrote.

Six days later, Gato went to the Hudson Town Clerk’s Office with her mother’s signed, absentee ballot application. She reportedly told staff her mother was going to vote with an absentee ballot, though Gato did not mention her mother’s death. Nor did she mention her mother’s dying wish, nor the intention to put the ballot in her casket. The application Gato presented to the clerk was identical to the document she would use to collect a ballot for her mother if she were still alive and ready to cast a mail-in ballot.

“The application included a signature for Ruby Ponce, dated Oct. 13, 2024. On the form, Gato signed an attestation that she assisted the applicant in executing the form because the applicant has a disability,” Ostrowski wrote.

Earlier that day, Town Clerk Michelle Brewster got a letter warning her that Gato planned to illegally vote for her dead mother. When Gato showed up to get her mother’s absentee ballot, the staff made sure she did not get one, Ostrowski said.

Instead, Gato was told her mother’s absentee ballot would be mailed to the house they shared. But Brewster put the Ponce ballot application aside and called the Attorney General’s Office rather than send a ballot to a dead woman, Ostrowski wrote. Gato herself managed to vote via absentee ballot in the Nov. 5, 2024 election.

Ostrowski spoke to Gato on Nov. 12, and the activist acknowledged her mother was in fact dead when she submitted the absentee ballot application.

New Hampshire election law does not take dying wishes into account. The state does consider submitting an absentee ballot application in the name of a dead person a problem, as it leaves the election system vulnerable to fraud. 

Chairman of the House Election Law Committee, Ross Berry (R-Weare), called Gato’s arrest proof positive that the new state law requiring an ID for absentee ballots is necessary.

“Democrats keep insisting voter fraud doesn’t happen in New Hampshire — and then it does. Thankfully, our newly enacted law, SB 287, would have stopped this Democrat activist from committing voter fraud by requiring a simple ID check before an absentee ballot is issued. We passed it because common sense tells you verification matters and today’s arrest proves why. I can only guess why the Democrats fought it,” Berry said.

Dead moms of progressive activists might be a significant voter bloc in New Hampshire elections. Rep. Tim Horrigan (D-Durham) testified before the House last year that his dead mother voted in the 2024 First-in-the-Nation presidential primary. To be fair to Horrigan’s mom, she wasn’t dead when she mailed in her own ballot.

“She was intending to be alive on Jan. 23, but she ended up passing on Jan. 16,” Horrigan said.

Horrigan told the anecdote while he was giving testimony against a proposed law that would have required executors of estates to inform town clerks of a resident’s death to help keep voter rolls current and correct.

Gato blames Brewster and the Attorney General’s Office for misinterpreting her compassion and using state power against a grieving daughter.

“New Hampshire’s wrongful voting statute exists to prevent election fraud — double voting, impersonation, deliberate manipulation of the system. It requires intent to defraud. The facts of my case meet none of those elements,” Gato wrote. “Yet here I am, facing criminal penalties because a clerk mistook compassion for conspiracy.”

Gato is due in Nashua District Court on Nov. 13 for her arraignment where she can try out her grief legal strategy.

“Grief is not voter fraud,” Gato wrote. “And if the State of New Hampshire can’t tell the difference, the problem isn’t the voters. It’s the system.”

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office says no laws were broken when state and local officials worked with China-based Nongfu Spring ahead of the company’s controversial $67 million purchase of a Nashua property.

But Gov. Kelly Ayotte says she’s deeply concerned about a company tied to China’s communist regime making a major infrastructure investment in the Granite State.

“Foreign adversaries like China should not be doing business in New Hampshire, and I am taking action today to ensure it,” Ayotte said in a statement released minutes after the report went public. “In addition to a new law banning these types of land purchases, I will issue executive orders to ensure the Chinese Communist Party and other hostile groups are not doing business with our state government.”

Nongfu Spring is owned by Zhong Shanshan, China’s richest man and a billionaire with documented ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. As a large private business in China, Nongfu operates under Chinese regulatory systems. That means it must comply with national standards and oversight by government authorities.

On Monday, Attorney General John Formella’s office released its report on the Nongfu Spring purchase. While no laws were broken, the report faulted an unnamed Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA) employee for failing to disclose the company’s Chinese ownership to supervisors for several months after the process began.

Mike Bergeron

The BEA business development manager in question has worked at the agency since 1997. Public records show Mike Bergeron, one of three BEA business development managers and the only one with that tenure, matches that description. NHPR has also identified Bergeron as the manager in question.

Bergeron did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

According to the report, Bergeron did not inform his supervisors about the pending transaction until December 2024 and did not disclose that the buyer was Chinese-owned until January 2025—despite knowing as early as June 2024 that Zhong was connected to Nongfu. That summer, Bergeron helped organize a tour of the Nashua site for Zhong and his entourage, coordinating with local officials including Nashua Administrative Services Director Tim Cummings.

Formella’s report, requested by Ayotte amid mounting controversy over Nongfu’s operations in Nashua, clears Bergeron, BEA, and Nashua officials of any lawbreaking. At the time, there was no law preventing a Chinese-based company from purchasing property in New Hampshire.

Nongfu’s representatives told Bergeron they were seeking approval from the U.S. Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), but Formella said he could not confirm the status of that review. His report also notes the FBI is currently investigating Nongfu and its plans in New Hampshire.

And the report concludes that the nature of the deal, along with evolving legal standards in Washington, D.C., indicate that CFIUS review is warranted.

“On Dec. 9, 2024, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Investment Security published a final rule that expanded CFIUS’s ability to review certain real estate transactions by foreign persons. CFIUS review of the Nongfu Spring transaction thus would have been advisable in the context of the Nashua property’s proximity to Joint Base Cape Cod, which is listed as 87 miles from the purchase site,” according to the report.

“A CFIUS analysis as a matter of course should have been conducted and documented prior to the completion of the transaction.”

Since the Nongfu purchase became public, state lawmakers have passed legislation banning companies from “hostile” nations — including China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran — from acquiring property in New Hampshire.

On Monday, Ayotte went further, signing two executive orders: one prohibiting the sale of state-owned land to entities from those countries, and another banning the state from purchasing technology from companies based there.

“China, Russia, Iran and other countries like them should not be doing business in the state of New Hampshire — it’s as simple as that,” Ayotte said. “We must do everything we can to protect our state from foreign adversaries, and it starts with making sure they cannot access sensitive data, do business, or purchase property here. Under my administration, New Hampshire will always do our part to keep America safe.”

Formella’s report also addressed one lingering question: Why did Nongfu pay $67 million for 80 Northwest Blvd., a property valued at about $15 million?

“According to a number of individuals interviewed for this report, the selling price is not widely regarded as exceeding market value,” the report stated. “In fact, the property was reportedly one of the few structures of its size in New England available at the time that was capable of meeting the bottling company’s structural and technical requirements.”

Nongfu initially proposed a $200 million investment in the Nashua facility, promising to create hundreds of jobs. But according to the report, the company halted all activity in May, emailing Nashua’s planning office to announce a “pause” in development.

“Due to evolving global trade and investment conditions, our client is conducting a broader reassessment of project feasibility and associated costs. As part of this review, they have decided to pause all entitlements and permitting activities,” the email stated.

The pause may have more to do with Washington, D.C., than Concord. President Donald Trump reignited his economic confrontation with China earlier this year, triggering tariff swings between 145 percent and 30 percent on Chinese imports. His administration also began arresting Chinese nationals studying at U.S. colleges, moves that further strained relations between Washington and Beijing.

The woman who allegedly sent thousands of child sex abuse photos to her lover, former Democratic State Rep. Stacie Marie Laughton, is set to change her plea in federal court.

Lindsay Groves, 40, is accused of exploiting children at the Tyngsborough, Mass., daycare where she worked for Laughton’s sick gratification. She is scheduled for a change of plea hearing on Oct. 14 in the United States District Court in Boston.

Groves and Laughton, 41, are currently on track for separate November trials. Both Groves and Laughton are indicted on three counts each of sexual exploitation of children. Groves is also charged with one count of distribution of child pornography. 

Former state Rep. Stacie-Marie Laughton (D-Nashua)

Groves’ plea hearing comes after Judge Dennis Saylor ruled in August that the Hudson woman is competent to stand trial on the charges. Her defense lawyers tied up the case for more than a year, trying to prove Groves is not mentally competent to face justice.

Dr. Tina Adams, an independent clinical and forensic psychologist hired by the defense, found Groves is severely limited intellectually, easily manipulated, and unable to understand the charges against her. But Dr. Lauren Schumacher, a forensic psychologist employed by the Bureau of Prisons, reported that despite her limitations, Groves obtained an associate’s degree in early-childhood education from New Hampshire Community College, held down steady jobs, and was able to understand how the court system works. 

After Saylor reviewed the reports from Adams and Schumacher, he ruled that Groves could indeed go on trial.

“In short, (Groves) has repeatedly shown that despite her many limitations, she is capable of ordered thinking and rational communication, and that she has the ability to navigate reasonably complex situations,” Saylor wrote in his August order.

Groves apparently also understands the criminal justice system well enough to know when it’s time to roll on her former lover. If Groves enters into a plea agreement on Oct. 14, as seems likely, she would be required to testify against Laughton.

Laughton and Groves have a long-standing, volatile, and odd relationship. In 2022, Laughton was charged with harassing Groves and her family, costing Laughton a seat in the state legislature.

Laughton has been in and out of jail since at least 2008 after being convicted of credit card fraud. Four years later, Laughton was charged with a crime after calling in a bogus bomb threat at the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua. Those charges were later dropped as Laughton claimed to be suffering from a mental health crisis.

On Organization Day in 2022, Laughton was unable to participate due to being incarcerated at the time. Only after Democrats realized Laughton would not help them close the narrow GOP majority did the House Democratic Caucus finally force a resignation.

It came out in the stalking case that Laughton had called police to report Groves was abusing children at the daycare, though that was believed to have been part of the ongoing harassment at that time.

Laughton is alleged to have repeatedly tried to get Groves fired from her job at the daycare, claiming Groves was a pedophile. Laughton reported Groves to police, as well as making the accusation on social media and on Laughton’s radio program, according to court records.

However, according to the federal case, Laughton and Groves were simpatico after the stalking case was resolved without a jail sentence. Groves started sending the sick photos to Laughton, and the two had disturbing conversations via text about the images and their own sexual desires. 

Laughton and Grove discussed raping the children at the daycare facility. In one chilling exchange, they discussed how to get away with the horrific crime. Laughton maintained there was nothing wrong with sexually abusing children.

“Oh, I know, but I just don’t wanna get in trouble. I mean, I want to do what we want to do because we like it and we approve of it, but others think this is wrong. Lots of parents don’t like people touching their kids, and it is against the law …” Laughton wrote in one exchange.

In another message, Laughton appears to admit to raping a child with Groves.

“I was asking because I know we’ve had some back-and-forth, and I know we initially said we do nothing with kids ever again, and you said you were afraid that if we had kids if they would go back and tell the parents the same with the kids you work with,” Laughton texted to Groves.

Born Barry Laughton, the Democrat’s gender identity as a transgender woman has never been straightforward. It was unclear how far Laughton’s medical transition had progressed, if at all. Laughton appears to be balding with many masculine features, though the convicted felon wears makeup and clothing traditionally identified with women. 

Laughton was married for many years to Lisa Laughton, the alleged co-conspirator in the 2008 fraud case that resulted in the felony conviction that temporarily derailed Laughton’s political career. Laughton has also conducted a long-term sexual relationship with Groves. Both Groves and Lisa Laughton are biological women. 

Both Laughton and Groves have been held since their arrests in 2023. Initially, they were kept at the Valley Street jail in Manchester, but have since been transferred into pre-trial federal custody. Federal officials decline to disclose their current location.

When the shooter entered the Prime restaurant at the Sky Meadow Country Club Saturday night, Robert DeCesare reportedly stood up to protect his family from harm.

More details about Saturday’s mass shooting emerged in the wake of the horror that saw DeCesare killed and two other people suffer gunshot wounds. But the shooter, 23-year-old Hunter Nadeau, remains an enigma.

Robert DeCesare, Jr.
(Provided by the DeCesare family)

Charlene DeCesare told the Associated Press that Nadeau appeared to be targeting an employee when her husband moved to protect her and their daughter. Nadeau shot Decesare several times, according to the autopsy. 

“My husband got caught in the fire trying to protect us,” she told the AP.

In the ensuing chaos, one patron hit Nadeau with a chair, and others acted to stop his violence, witnesses said. One other employee was shot, as well as another patron.

According to the Associated Press and additional sources, Nadeau is from Maine and was living in Nashua with his grandmother. The young man lived in Arkansas for a few years and attended high school there before moving to Nashua.

In February, Nadeau allegedly pushed down a male manager at a supermarket who was trying to assist him with the self-checkout. Nadeau was charged with a simple assault misdemeanor that was resolved this month in court. The court agreed to place the case on file on the condition that Nadeau remained on good behavior for a year. If he stayed out of trouble for a year, the charge would be dismissed entirely.

Nadeau remains in jail on preventative detention and is due in court Oct. 1 for a probable cause hearing. He’s currently charged with one count of second-degree murder, though more charges are anticipated. 

Attorney General John Formella said that while Nadeau was heard to shout “Free Palestine” during his short rampage, the motive is not believed to be based on any particular ideology. Formella said Nadeau was heard shouting several different things, in what investigators believe was an attempt to create chaos in the moment. 

Formella’s statement has not quieted speculation that the shooter was motivated by pro-Palestine or anti-Israel politics. National media figures, including Jim Geraghty of National Review and Guy Benson of Fox News, have suggested that there needs to be a more aggressive effort to investigate Nadeau’s motives.

For years, Oscar Villacis was seen as a rising star in New Hampshire Democratic politics. A young Latino entrepreneur who turned a viral moment into a media platform won seats on city boards, posed for photos with members of Congress, and even got invited to the White House.

Now, as he launches a bid for the Nashua School Board, Villacis is facing explosive allegations from a former business partner and intern who says she endured years of emotional and financial abuse at his hands.

Oscar Villacis

Jasmine Torres, who once worked side by side with Villacis at his company, First Gen Multimedia, published a Substack essay detailing what she described as three years of verbal attacks, unpaid labor, and mounting personal debt tied to the business.

“I lived in a state of abuse for three years,” Torres told NHJournal. “People are afraid to be called a racist and are afraid of calling him out. When push comes to shove, they know he can pull the race card.”

Villacis launched his media career in 2020 when local Nashua radio host Dianna Ploss was fired after she video-recorded herself verbally harassing Hispanic laborers. Villacis took to social media, crowdfunded thousands in startup cash, and launched a show that focused on the Latino community.

In her essay, The Expose I Didn’t Want to Write,” Torres described being drawn into Villacis’s fledgling Latino-focused radio show in 2020, eventually becoming a full-time partner while still working unpaid. She alleged Villacis pressured her to reinvest revenue back into the company, leaving her unable to pay for heating or child care, and saddled her with more than $20,000 in debt to the firm.

Torres said she was subjected to late-night yelling, public beratings in the studio, and isolation from family and friends. “Because I had never been a part of a startup, I just thought this was normal business partner behavior from the stress, but it wasn’t,” she wrote.

Villacis, in an interview, acknowledged the partnership soured but called Torres’s account “baseless.” He described her as a “disgruntled former business partner” but insisted he empathizes with her pain.

“The pain is real, and it is something I do not dismiss,” Villacis said. “To speak from a place of hurt takes courage, and I want to honor that courage … I’m a champion of women, I’m raising daughters, I have nothing but love and respect.”

As for allegations of yelling, Villacis framed it as cultural. “When it comes to Latino culture and passion, when we talk loud, it might sound like we’re yelling,” he said. “She wasn’t the only one on the receiving end of the yelling; I was, too. What we were doing was for the greater cause.”

He confirmed Torres had signed non-disclosure and noncompete agreements, but said he chose not to enforce them when she left to work at PBS in 2023.

“I didn’t block that. I was happy she was able to move on and provide for her family,” he said.

Torres told NHJournal she initially planned to stay silent, but decided to speak out after Villacis began moving into politics. He was recently appointed to a Nashua city communications committee by Mayor Jim Donchess and is now campaigning for the school board.

“I knew he was going to run for the school board. That’s what really shook me the most,” Torres said.

She added that Democratic officials she confided in declined to intervene, sympathetic but unwilling to confront Villacis. “The Democratic Party abandoned me,” she said.

Villacis complained that large parts of the New Hampshire Democratic Party are biased against assertive Latino men like himself, when it should be embracing them.

“In order for us to succeed, we need to come together. The Democratic Party is set up to tear themselves apart right now,” Villacis said.

The first court appearance for the Nashua man accused of Robert DeCesare’s murder during Saturday night’s mass shooting at the Sky Meadow County Club only lasted about a minute Monday afternoon.

Authorities are still trying to uncover the reasons behind the horrific violence in which two other people were shot, and four more were injured.

The alleged shooter, Hunter Nadeau, 23, did not physically go into the Nashua Circuit Court on Monday afternoon, but instead appeared via video feed from the Hillsborough County House of Corrections, where he is being held without bail.

Robert DeCesare, Jr.
(Provided by the DeCesare family)

All documents in the case are currently sealed except a barebones complaint charging Nadeau with second-degree murder. If convicted, he could face 25 years to life for that count alone.

Nadeau waived his arraignment and agreed to the next court date of Oct. 1 for a probable cause hearing. Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinkley said after Monday’s hearing that the next step will be to present evidence to a grand jury for possible indictments.

“After that probable-cause hearing, the case is going to be adjourned to superior court, and we’ll have 90 days to present indictments against the defendant,” Hinkley said.

The period after the probable cause hearing gives prosecutors time to continue their investigation into Nadeau’s motives. Evidence to support more charges will then likely be brought to the grand jury.

Despite Nadeau’s shouts of “Free Palestine” during the shooting, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said Sunday that his office doesn’t currently believe a political ideology inspired the attack. Instead, investigators believe Nadeau shouted several different comments during the incident in an effort to cause chaos and confusion.

Rob Parsons

What is known is that Nadeau had worked at Sky Meadow, last working at the country club sometime within the past year. Sky Meadow owner Rob Parsons read a statement Monday after the hearing, though he declined to answer questions given the still-open investigation.

“This is the heinous act of a coward who will be held accountable for what he did,” Parsons said.

DeCesare, who lived in the Sky Meadow gated community, was dining with his family in the Prime restaurant when he was shot. Charlene DeCesare issued a statement through Parsons thanking the community for the support she’s received.

“Everyone needs to know I am not leaving Sky Meadow, and I am not leaving this community. This is my solace and this is my community,” Charlene DeCesare said in the statement. “The people at Sky Meadow are my heart right now, and I am forever grateful.”

Nadeau allegedly entered the country club where he used to work around 7:20 p.m. on Saturday armed with a handgun. He shot and wounded one employee in a hallway before he allegedly entered the restaurant and fired more. Robert DeCesare and another patron were shot as patrons and employees rushed to stop Nadeau’s terror. 

“There were many heroes that night,” Parsons said.

The employee is listed in critical but stable conditions. The condition of the other patron who was shot is not known. Two other people who were reportedly hurt sustained their injuries in the confrontation with Nadeau, and others were injured in the mad rush to get out of the building, according to officials. 

Nashua police found and arrested Nadeau in a nearby neighborhood about 30 minutes after the shooting. He was arrested without any further incident, according to police. 

Late Monday, the Attorney General’s Office announced the autopsy found DeCesare’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and that the manner of death was homicide.

The 23-year-old who shouted “Free Palestine” during his shooting rampage inside the Sky Meadow Country Club on Saturday night was using the slogan to create confusion, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said Sunday.

“We don’t think the statements he made lead us to any particular motive,” Formella said.

One man, Robert Steven DeCesare, 59, was killed. Two others were shot and wounded, and at least four others suffered non-gunshot injuries. A Sky Meadow employee who was shot is in critical but stable condition.

Formella and Nashua Police Chief Kevin Rourke gave an update on the investigation into the shooting and the arrest of suspect Hunter Nadeau. While Formella confirmed that Nadeau shouted “Free Palestine” during the shooting, evidence now suggests the incident was not politically motivated.

“Mr. Nadeau made a number of statements during the event. There’s no evidence this was motivated by a hate-based motivation. More likely, Mr. Nadeau was trying to make a number of different statements to create chaos in the moment,” Formella said.

Reports that Nadeau shouted “Free Palestine” made the Nashua shooting a national story, connecting it to a spike in violence on behalf of causes embraced by the political left, including “Globalize the Intifada,” so-called antifascism or Antifa, and transgender activism. Two weeks ago, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a shooter who spouted Antifa slogans and whose boyfriend is transitioning.

But Formella suggested the Nashua shooter’s use of the antisemitic slogan was a rhetorical smokescreen.

Formella did not disclose the other things Nadeau reportedly shouted, saying that witnesses heard and saw different things. He said investigators do not believe Nadeau had a political motive.

“He was making a lot of different statements. They don’t really give us much sense of his motive,” Formella said.

Instead, Formella told reporters that Nadeau is a Nashua resident and a former Sky Meadow employee. He last worked at the country club more than a year ago. While Formella did not elaborate, Nadeau’s residence and employment history suggest the likelihood of a more personal motive.

Nadeau entered the country club armed with a handgun, shot a Sky Meadow employee in a hallway, and then entered the Prime restaurant, where he shot DeCesare and one other patron. There is no known connection between Nadeau and DeCesare. DeCesare was dining with his family that night.

The shooting lasted about a minute, Formella said, thanks to restaurant patrons who confronted Nadeau and the quick police response. At least two of the people who confronted the shooter are among those with non-gunshot injuries. Formella hailed their selfless courage to protect the people around them.

“This could have been much worse,” Formella said.

DeCesare’s mother, Evie O’Rourke, told WCVB-TV that her son moved to protect his family in the face of the threat.

“He did what I’m sure was his instinct to do. Like I said, he was facing the shooter, not trying to get away, and that’s what his wife said,” O’Rourke said. “I’m still in shock seeing the shooting, but I know he did this: His thought was to take care of his family.”

Rourke said police were able to cut through the misinformation Saturday night and find Nadeau within half an hour. Multiple news outlets, as well as social media accounts, claimed there were two shooters.

Rourke did not give many details but said police found Nadeau in a nearby neighborhood and took him into custody without incident.

“He was cooperative,” Rourke said.

Nadeau is currently charged with second-degree murder and is set to be arraigned on Monday. Formella said more charges are anticipated as the investigation continues.

DEVELOPING…

Bad news for former state Democratic Rep. Stacie Marie Laughton and romantic partner Lindsay Groves, as a federal judge cleared the way for the pair to go on trial in their shocking child sex abuse images case.

In an order issued last week, Massachusetts District Court Judge Dennis Saylor rejected defense arguments that Groves, 40, is mentally incompetent to stand trial. With questions about Groves’ intelligence and her ability to understand the charges now out of the way, the trials are scheduled for November.

Both Laughton and Groves have been in federal custody since their arrests more than two years ago. Groves is alleged to have used her position as a daycare center employee to take nude photos of young children and text them to Laughton for their shared sexual gratification. 

Groves was deemed incompetent to stand trial last year by Dr. Tina Adams, an independent clinical and forensic psychologist hired by the defense. According to Adams, Groves is severely limited intellectually, easily manipulated, and unable to understand the charges against her to assist in her own defense.

But Dr. Lauren Schumacher, a forensic psychologist employed by the Bureau of Prisons, reports that despite her limitations, Groves obtained an associate’s degree in early-childhood education from New Hampshire Community College, held down steady jobs, and was able to understand how the court system works. 

Schumacher’s report additionally found that Adams scored Groves incorrectly in one of the key assessment exams, which led to her incompetent decision. 

Saylor reviewed the reports done by Adams and Schumacher earlier this year before ruling that Groves can indeed go on trial.

“In short, [Groves] has repeatedly shown that despite her many limitations, she is capable of ordered thinking and rational communication, and that she has the ability to navigate reasonably complex situations, including obtaining higher education and holding employment for extended periods. She understands the essential nature and potential consequences of the alleged crime, and can provide meaningful assistance to her defense. Accordingly … the Court concludes that, notwithstanding her limitations, she is competent to stand trial,” Saylor wrote.

Laughton, 41, of Nashua, became a star attraction in the state Democratic Party as New Hampshire’s first transgender person elected to the legislature. State party chair Ray Buckley even gave Laughton a shoutout as one of the “LGBTQIA+ Democrats who are the backbone of the Granite State,” despite the legislator’s criminal record at the time.

Born Barry Laughton, the historic 2012 election win was short-lived as past criminal convictions soon came to light. Laughton was forced out of office weeks after the 2012 election when it was revealed he was still on probation for a felony theft charge. Laughton was subsequently charged with stalking and making bomb threats.

Laughton’s gender identity as a transgender woman has never been straightforward. It was not clear how far Laughton’s medical transition had progressed. Laughton appears to be balding with many masculine features, though the convicted felon wears makeup and clothing traditionally identified with women. 

Laughton was married for many years to Lisa Laughton, the alleged co-conspirator in the 2008 fraud case that resulted in the felony conviction that temporarily derailed Laughton’s political career. Laughton also conducted a long-term sexual relationship with Groves. Both Groves and Lisa Laughton are biological women. 

Laughton and Groves have a long-standing and volatile relationship. In 2022, Laughton was charged with harassing Groves and her family, costing Laughton a seat in the legislature. Laughton was arrested in November 2022 for stalking Groves, shortly after winning reelection to the House. Laughton was jailed for weeks until the House Democratic Caucus forced a resignation.

It came out in the stalking case that Laughton had called the police to report that Groves was abusing children at the daycare, though that was believed to have been part of the ongoing harassment.

Laughton is alleged to have repeatedly tried to get Groves fired from her job at the daycare, claiming Groves was a pedophile. Laughton reported Groves to police, as well as making the accusation on social media and on Laughton’s radio program, according to court records.

However, according to the federal case, Laughton and Groves were simpatico after the stalking case was resolved without a jail sentence. Groves started sending the photos to Laughton, and the two had disgusting conversations via text about the images and their own sexual desires. 

Laughton and Grove discussed raping the children at the daycare facility. In one chilling exchange, they discussed how to get away with the horrific crime. Laughton maintained there was nothing wrong with sexually abusing children.

GROVES: “You mentioned how I said I was afraid that the kids will run to the parents if we do it with them I wasn’t being serious.”

LAUGHTON: “OK because like I get concerned about that, cause I don’t wanna get caught if we do.”

GROVES: “I was joking anyway, and you took me serious.”

LAUGHTON: “Oh, I know, but I just don’t wanna get in trouble. I mean, I want to do what we want to do because we like it and we approve of it, but others think this is wrong. Lots of parents don’t like people touching their kids, and it is against the law …”

In another exchange, Laughton seems to admit to raping a child with Groves

“I was asking because I know we’ve had some back-and-forth, and I know we initially said we do nothing with kids ever again, and you said you were afraid that if we had kids if they would go back and tell the parents the same with the kids you work with,” Laughton texted to Groves.

Laughton and Groves were being held pre-trial at the Valley Street Jail in Manchester on state charges soon after their original arrests. But the pair have since been moved into federal custody. Representatives with the United States Attorney’s Office in Boston declined to confirm their present location.