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A trial date is now set for former New Hampshire’s longtime ports and harbors director Geno Marconi, accused of retaliating against a Pease Development Authority board member.

Marconi is facing felony charges that he allegedly illegally leaked PDA Vice Chair Neil Levesque’s private driving records to Brad Cook, chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council. Marconi is also accused of destroying evidence, according to court records.

Cook is also facing criminal charges for his alleged role in the scheme. Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi is also charged with allegedly trying to pressure then-Gov. Chris Sununu and PDA Chair Steve Duprey into dropping the criminal investigation into her husband.

Levesque got on Marconi’s bad side in 2022, when he raised concerns about the way Marconi ran Rye Harbor, according to NHPR’s reporting. Levesque sent a confidential memo to the PDA Executive Director Paul Breen about his concerns, which triggered an outside investigation.

The Rye Harbor problems Levesque warned about are the subject of a civil lawsuit brought in January by the owners of the Rye Harbor Lobster Pound, Sylvia Cheever, and Nathan Hansom. They claim Marconi has been trying to hurt their business for years in order to aid his sister, Francesca Marconi Fernald, who operates Geno’s Chowder and Sandwich Shop, a restaurant started by their parents.

According to the lawsuit, Geno Marconi made it impossible for customers to park at the Rye Harbor Lobster Pound, interfered with its business relationship with local lobster fishermen, and imposed a unique “concession fee,” all in an effort to hurt the business.

“The series of actions taken against Rye Harbor Lobster Pound were driven by Marconi’s desire to harm a competitor to his family business and in retaliation against the plaintiffs who were not part of Marconi’s network of allied businesses and individuals who worked for or were otherwise connected with the Port Authority,” the lawsuit states.

Marconi is no stranger to controversy. He was accused of misusing public resources for his own benefit in 2006. Those allegations included an accusation that Marconi took improper gifts like lobsters and liquor in his role as ports director, and he used racist slurs about a ship captain trying to do business with the state.

Marconi reportedly called a ship captain of Middle Eastern descent a “sand n*gger” a “camel jockey,” and a “towel head.” He was also accused of calling someone else a “New York Jew with the chink wife.” 

During an internal investigation, Marconi reportedly said that while he likely did use the term “sand n*gger,” it was not about that particular captain. He denied making the other racist remarks. Marconi was required to undergo sensitivity training as a result of the investigation, but — surprisingly — was allowed to keep his job.

There was a drive-by shooting at the home of one of the complaining witnesses against Marconi in the 2006 investigation. No one was ever charged for shooting or other threats, and Marconi has vehemently denied involvement in the shooting.

Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz-Marconi continues to push for a dismissal of the criminal charges against her, saying there’s no evidence she did anything illegal.

Merrimack Superior Court Judge Martin Honigberg is considering her motion to dismiss after Monday’s hearing in Concord. Hantz-Marconi is facing felony charges for allegedly trying to pressure former Gov. Chris Sununu and Pease Development Authority Chair Steve Duprey into dropping the criminal investigation of her husband, Geno Marconi, the former state ports director.

Hantz-Marconi’s lawyer, Richard Guerrero, told Honigberg that witness interviews recorded by prosecutors demonstrate no crime was committed.

“Our position is that even Supreme Court justices have a right to speak to public officials about matters of public concern and about matters of private concern, and we don’t think that these indictments, any of them, state a crime,” he said.

But Assistant Attorney General Joe Fincham argued a jury ought to decide if a crime was committed based on Hantz-Marconi’s intent, not just the words she allegedly spoke to Sununu and Duprey.

“So that is the ultimate issue, frankly, in this trial: what was her intent? Was it a benign protected First Amendment intent, or was it a corrupt criminal intent?” Fincham said.

If Hantz-Marconi was intent on pressuring Sununu to drop the investigation, the key prosecution witness seems to have not noticed. According to the transcripts filed with Hantz-Marconi’s motion to dismiss, Sununu told investigators she never tried to get him to interfere in the Geno Marconi criminal investigation.

“No, there was no ask, there was nothing ‘Governor, I wish you could do this,’ or there was nothing like that. She was expressing frustration. Clearly not asking me to do anything,” Sununu told investigators. “I, I didn’t get the sense that, I didn’t get the sense that anything was illegal about the conversation.”

Hantz-Marconi met with Sununu on June 6, 2024, in his office, along with Rudy Ogden, Sununu’s then legal counsel. At the time, Hantz-Marconi was recusing herself from sitting in on Supreme Court cases involving the New Hampshire Department of Justice due to the investigation into her husband.

Geno Marconi was placed on leave from his job in April, and a criminal investigation took off. By October, Geno Marconi was indicted for allegedly giving another person the private driver’s record of an individual known as N.L., and for destroying evidence.

Hantz Marconi was indicted the same week for her alleged attempt to pressure Sununu and Duprey into dropping the investigation. The charges are based on a phone call Hantz-Marconi made to Duprey and the June 6 conversation with Sununu. Ogden told investigators that Hantz-Marconi never asked Sununu to get involved in her husband’s investigation.

“[T] hat’s why I say in terms of her not asking for anything, it – it never was, it never went more than saying this needs to end quickly…Like it was never it needs to end quickly and geez, if you talk to them you should tell them that, or this needs to end quickly and I think you can do that. It was never anything like that,” Ogden told investigators.

Duprey told investigators he spoke with Hantz-Marconi as a friend, and listened as she expressed her frustrations with the ongoing criminal investigation.

“I think she was very appropriate in not trying to cross the line,” Duprey said.

Duprey and the PDA had placed Geno Marconi on paid leave in April after being told of the investigation by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella. That disclosure occurred in April at the Department of Justice in a meeting attended by Sununu.

Facing criminal charges, Geno Marconi recently submitted paperwork to retire from his state job. He’s also a defendant, along with the PDA, in a new lawsuit brought by owners of the Rye Harbor Lobster Pound. The lobster shack owners claim Marconi used his position as ports director to hurt their business in order to help friends and family with competing businesses.

Geno Marconi’s sister owns the nearby Geno’s Chowder & Sandwich Shop, a restaurant started by their parents.

Prosecutors are more than two months late producing evidence against Ports Director Geno Marconi, his lawyers say, and they’ve filed a motion asking the court to force the state to start showing its hand. If not, the attorneys argue, an upcoming meeting on the disposition of the case should be canceled.

Marconi is charged with felonies in a scandal that’s also snared his wife, Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, as well as a host of other Granite State political heavyweights.

Marconi’s lawyers filed a motion demanding discovery on Dec. 20, writing that the delays are holding up the case. Marconi was indicted by a grand jury in September, and his lawyers asked for discovery on Oct. 17, according to the motion. Marconi pleaded not guilty on Nov. 27.

“Although the pretrial disclosure in direct indictment cases is typically due 45 calendar days after the entry of a not guilty plea by the defendant … it has now been over 90 days since the defendant was indicted and more than 60 days since discovery was requested,” lawyers Richard Samdperil and Joseph Welsh wrote.

But Rockingham Superior Court Judge Andrew Schulman isn’t pausing the case calendar. In an order issued Dec. 31, Schulman wrote that he “assumes” prosecutors are in the process of getting evidence, including any exculpatory evidence, to Marconi’s lawyers. The case is currently set for a dispositional conference on Jan. 14. 

Marconi is charged with two class B felonies – Tampering with Witnesses and Informants and Falsifying Physical Evidence. He’s also charged with four class A misdemeanors – two counts of Driver Privacy Act Violations and two counts of Obstructing Government Administration.

Marconi and Brad Cook, chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council and a longtime fishing boat captain, are accused of crimes involving leaking information about an unnamed victim to further an unstated motive.

Marconi illegally provided Cook with the confidential driving records of another person, known in the indictments as N.L., according to the indictments. Marconi also is alleged to have deleted a voicemail message in order to hinder any investigation, the indictments state. Cook, for his part, is accused of lying to the grand jury when questioned about N.L.’s driving records.

It is known that Marconi’s bail orders prohibit him from contacting Neil Levesque, a member of the Pease Development Authority Board. It’s also been reported that Levesque, Pease Development Authority Chair Steve Duprey, and the rest of the board met with Attorney General John Formella and Gov. Chris Sununu in April to discuss the emerging criminal investigation against Marconi.

Marconi and Cook both opposed the PDA’s plan to redevelop Rye Harbor to make it more retail friendly, a plan that Sununu supported. 

Marconi was placed on leave in April, after the meeting with Formella. Hantz-Marconi was forced to recuse herself from Supreme Court cases involving the Department of Justice while the criminal investigation proceeded. Frustrated at being sidelined, Hantz-Marconi met with Sununu in July to talk about the investigation interfering with her ability to serve on the court.

That conversation between Hantz-Marconi and Sununu became the basis for the criminal charges against the associate justice. She’s accused of trying to pressure Sununu to drop the investigation, though she strongly denies that is the case. Hantz-Marconi denies she did anything wrong. In court documents her lawyers have filed, it was learned Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald told her before the July meeting with Sununu that there would be nothing improper with the conversation.

The entire Supreme Court has since recused itself from Hantz-Marconi’s criminal case, as well as from her state attorney discipline process.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella may owe his career to Gov. Chris Sununu, but that doesn’t stop him from prosecuting Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, according to a ruling released Wednesday.

Merrimack Superior Court Judge Martin Honigberg denied Hantz Marconi’s motion to remove Formella from the case and to dismiss all the charges against her, saying she hasn’t shown evidence that Formella’s conflict of interest is anything other than speculative.

“Even assuming AG Formella owes much of his legal career to Gov.  Sununu, the Court is not convinced that such a history requires disqualification without a factual basis to support a showing that AG Formella has been or will be unable to perform his statutorily mandated duty to remain impartial given his personal relationship with the governor,” Honigberg wrote.

Richard Guerriero, one of Hantz Marconi’s lawyers along with Jonathan Motlier and Oliver Bloom, said they may appeal Honigberg’s ruling. 

“We respectfully disagree with the judge’s decision and we may appeal it at some point. However, this was a preliminary issue arising in the earliest stages of the case. Rest assured, we will continue to fight the attorney general’s accusations on every lawful basis until Justice Hantz Marconi is vindicated,” Guerriero said in a statement.

Hantz Marconi is accused of trying to intervene with Sununu and Pease Development Authority Board Chair Steve Duprey on behalf of her husband, Ports Director Geno Marconi, who is currently under criminal investigation. Marconi is charged with releasing private driver records and destroying evidence in his separate case.

Formella has long been associated with Sununu, working as his private attorney before Sununu ran for governor, serving on his transition team, and later as his counsel in office. Unlike most states where attorneys general are elected by the public, New Hampshire’s is nominated by the governor.

Hantz Marconi’s lawyers argued to the court that Formella’s relationship with Sununu, and Sununu’s role as a key witness in the criminal case against Hantz Marconi, present a disqualifying conflict. They wanted a special prosecutor appointed and the criminal indictments thrown out, since Hantz Marconi claims a potentially biased prosecution team presented evidence to the grand jury. 

But Sununu said during press questions following Wednesday’s Executive Council meeting that Formella goes to the “nth degree” to make sure politics stay out of prosecutions. He also pushed back on an NHPR report showing he was at an April meeting with Formella, Duprey, and other members of the PDA board before Geno Marconi was suspended and the criminal investigation started. Sununu had previously claimed he knew nothing about the case.

“I think that article was complete garbage. I meet with the attorney general all the time. The fact that I had a meeting with the attorney general, (that) it somehow implies that there was something, some other part of the discussion that wasn’t being disclosed, is complete nonsense and awful reporting by (NHPR’s Todd Bookman). It was completely unnecessary and inappropriate,” Sununu said. 

He also made it clear there are two separate cases — Geno Marconi and questions about his actions at Pease, and Hantz Marconi and her alleged actions on her husband’s behalf.

“Justice Marconi is very different from the Geno issue, which is what this (story) was about. I know I’ve never talked to an investigator about that,” Sununu said.

“Put it this way, the attorney general has never questioned me,” he added.

Geno Marconi clashed with the Pease Development Board over a proposed Rye Harbor development that Sununu backed. While the board and Sununu supported spending $1 million in federal money on a raised shopping area at the harbor, Marconi and his co-defendant Brad Cook opposed the plan. The PDA backed off the plan in September following push back from the community. 

Geno Marconi is accused of leaking private information of an individual known as N.L. in the indictments. It’s believed that N.L. is Neil Levesque, PDA vice chair and the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute for Politics at Saint Anselm College.

Levesque was at the April meeting with Formella, Sununu, and the rest of the board.

Soon after Geno Marconi was placed on leave, Hantz Marconi was forced to recuse herself from Supreme Court cases involving the Department of Justice. Frustrated with sitting out important decisions, Hantz Marconi scheduled a meeting with Sununu to discuss the issue, according to court records.

Before she met with Sununu, Hantz Marconi discussed the matter with Chief Justice Gordan MacDonald, who was the attorney general before Formella. MacDonald reportedly told Hantz Marconi there would be nothing illegal or inappropriate in talking to Sununu.

“I think you can do that—You are a constituent and have concerns,” MacDonald told her, according to court records.

The person accusing New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi of potential lawbreaking is Gov. Chris Sununu.

The person prosecuting her alleged wrongdoing, Attorney General John Formella, works for Sununu.

And that, Hantz Marconi’s lawyers argue, is a conflict of interest. So they’re asking Merrimack Superior Court Judge Martin Honigberg to throw out the case as a result.

Prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office say it’s just her legal team’s attempt to grab a get-out-of-free card.

It’s now up to Merrimack Superior Court Judge Martin Honigberg to decide who’s right.

Hantz Marconi is accused of illegally trying to influence Sununu to intervene in the criminal investigation involving her husband, Ports Director Geno Marconi, during a June meeting. Geno Marconi was indicted three months later on charges he leaked confidential driver’s license records and destroyed evidence.

In Merrimack Superior Court in Concord on Monday, Hantz Marconi’s lawyer, Richard Guerriero, said Formella cannot fairly prosecute the case due to his personal and professional relationship with Sununu. Formella represented Sununu in private practice, worked on Sununu’s original transition team after the 2016 election, served as the governor’s counsel, and now owes his current position as attorney general to Sununu. 

“Every accused person is entitled to a prosecutor who is impartial,” Guerriero said. “I don’t think we can ignore the fact Attorney General Formella has a close relationship with this one very powerful public official.”

Formella is supposed to represent every New Hampshire citizen as attorney general, but he can’t do that fairly given his previous role as Sununu’s attorney and his attorney general duties that require he represent the governor in civil matters.

The case has highlighted a problem that comes from a system where the attorney general is selected by the state’s chief executive. In 43 states and the District of Columbia, the top cop is elected by the voters. Only four other states follow the New Hampshire model.

“A prosecutor cannot serve two masters,” Guerriero said. “He can’t be loyal to his client, and at the same time fairly assess the merits of a possible case against an accused person.”

Assistant Attorney General Joe Fincham countered that the alleged conflict of interest Guerriero is claiming is nothing more than an attempt to derail any criminal charges against Hantz Marconi.

“The defense is asking for immunity. If you commit a crime in front of the governor … you are immune from prosecution in the state of New Hampshire,” Fincham said. “This alleged conflict means no one can prosecute this defendant … which is an absurd result.”

But Guerriero said prosecutors are trying to blame him when they knew for months Formella’s conflict is a live legal issue in the case. He spoke to them before the case against Hantz Marconi was brought to a grand jury, urging them to appoint a special prosecutor. Short of hiring an outside prosecutor, Guerriero said they could have taken steps to remove Formella from the prosecution and shield him from the case to protect Hantz Marconi’s rights and avoid the conflict. But that did not happen.

“This could have been different,” Guerriero said. “But they plowed ahead and now we’re here three months later.”

Guerriero wants the charges dismissed and have the state start over with a new, independent prosecutor. Because grand juries only consider evidence presented by a prosecutor, without any argument from a defense attorney, it’s essential the prosecutor be absolutely fair and impartial, Guerriero said.

“The only protection we have at the grand jury is if the prosecutor is impartial,” Guerriero said.

For his part, Honigberg seemed skeptical of Guerriero’s argument Formella is conflicted due to his role as civil litigator for Sununu and the rest of the executive branch. The judge remarked every attorney general represents every governor in civil matters while also prosecuting every criminal case. 

But things get murky when it comes to the matter of Formella’s prior relationship with Sununu.

Attorney-client ethics rules mean Formella is bound not to disclose information he learned about Sununu in private practice and as the governor’s counsel, even if it is exculpatory for Hantz Marconi, Honigberg noted. 

Guerriero, speaking hypothetically to the judge, suggested that if Formella knew something about Sununu’s statements or actions regarding the Pease Development Authority (PDA).

“Suppose there was some interest of Sununu’s in the Pease Development Authority that [Formella] discussed with Sununu. It’s knows [Sununu’s] taken action at Pease. Suppose something the governor said about Pease becomes an issue, contrary to what he’s saying now,” Guerriero said.

Geno Marconi clashed with the Pease Development Board over a proposed Rye Harbor development. While the board and Sununu supported spending $1 million in federal money on a raised shopping area at the harbor, Marconi and his co-defendant Brad Cook opposed the plan. The PDA backed off the plan in September following a push back from the community. Geno Marconi is accused of leaking private information of an individual known as N.L. in the indictments. It’s believed that N.L. is Neil Levesque, PDA vice chair and the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute for Politics at Saint Anselm College. 

Add Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, to the list of high profile names involved in the odd scandal surrounding Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi and her husband, Geno Marconi. 

Both Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi and Geno Marconi face criminal charges in a case that’s already roped in Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald, Gov. Chris Sununu, and Attorney General John Formella. The biggest mystery involving the Marconis is what, exactly, they allegedly did.

When Geno Marconi waived his arraignment in Rockingham Superior Court last week on his criminal charges, he was ordered to have no contact with Levesque as part of his bail conditions. Levesque is also the Pease Development Authority’s vice chair, the body that suspended Geno Marconi from his job as ports director in April.

Geno Marconi allegedly disclosed the driving records of an individual known as N.L. in court documents, and then later erased a voicemail message regarding those records. Geno Marconi’s codefendant in that case is Brad Cook, the chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council and a longtime fishing boat captain.

Judge Hantz Marconi is due in Merrimack Superior Court Monday for an arraignment on charges she allegedly abused her office when she tried to get Sununu to intervene in her husband’s pending investigation during a June meeting.

Since she was indicted in October, Hantz Marconi’s lawyers have already filed motions to dismiss the charges, and to get Formella booted from the case. According to her filings, Hantz Marconi sought advice from MacDonald before she talked to Sununu, resulting in the Chief Justice telling her she had a legal right to speak to the governor about her concerns. 

Hantz Marconi wants Formella removed from the case due to his long-standing personal and professional relationship with the government’s star witness, Sununu. Formella was Sununu’s private attorney before becoming legal counsel in office, and then attorney general.

Attorney General John Formella and his entire office need to be dismissed from Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi’s criminal case due to serious conflicts of interest, according to her attorney Richard Guerriero.

“Attorney General Formella and his subordinate attorneys should not have been handling this matter before the grand jury and should not be prosecuting it now,” Guerriero wrote in a motion filed Thursday.

Ultimately, Guerriero wants all of the charges dismissed. Short of that, he wants Formella and his office removed from the case entirely. The concern Guerriero raises is that Formella not only has a long-standing personal and professional relationship with Gov. Chris Sununu, but he considers himself to be the chief executive’s lawyer in his role as attorney general.

Hantz Marconi is charged with felonies for allegedly trying to pressure Sununu to drop the criminal investigation into her husband, New Hampshire Ports Director Geno Marconi. That makes Sununu, Formella’s friend and client, the state’s key witness in the alleged crimes. 

Before becoming attorney general, Formella was a private attorney working for Sununu and his family who worked on the campaign for governor, and then became Sununu’s legal counsel in office. In his role as attorney general, Formella told NHJournal during a podcast interview that he considers himself Sununu’s attorney. 

“As far as the relationship with the governor, for every attorney general, the governor is probably their most important client. So, it’s an attorney-client relationship,” Formella said. 

The attorney general is the state’s chief prosecutor as well as the governor’s attorney in civil matters, according to memos from the Department of Justice.

Formella is tasked with making decisions on criminal prosecutions handled by his office, and he is in charge of directing his staff who handle the day-to-day work. With Hantz Marconi’s case, the prosecution is being handled by the Public Integrity Unit (PIU), which was created by order of Sununu in 2020 and not the legislature. Guerriero wrote that means the PIU can be subject to Sununu’s wishes, and not the work of the public.

“As a result of how it was created, Gov. Sununu has unique power over the PIU. Sununu determines what funding to recommend to the legislature for the PIU. Furthermore, he has the power to unilaterally dissolve the unit by executive order,” Guerriero wrote.

Because of that lack of impartiality, all of the indictments need to be dismissed, Guerriero wrote. The charges were handed up by a grand jury two weeks ago, but because of Formella and his office’s conflict of interest, Guerriero argues the grand jury’s findings should be discounted. Grand jury proceedings happen in secret, and there is no one representing the accused. Instead, prosecutors alone present evidence for the jurors to consider.

“If there is any chance a grand jury will make a fair decision about whether to indict a person, rather than simply signing off on the indictments presented to them, it depends on the impartiality of the prosecutors,” Guerriero wrote. “The prosecutors here are not impartial.”

Four Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald, have recused themselves from the case. MacDonald, like Sununu, is a witness in the case as he reportedly told Hantz Marconi she had a right to talk about her husband’s investigation with the governor before the June meeting at the heart of the matter.

“I think you can do that. You are a constituent and have concerns,” MacDonald reportedly said.

Hantz Marconi then made an appointment with Sununu through official channels to speak with him on June 6 in his office. Sununu’s current legal counsel, Rudolph Ogden attended the meeting, which was on Sununu’s official calendar.

“The meeting was open and documented in multiple ways — not exactly the usual route to corruption,” Guerriero wrote.

Hantz Marconi and Gereero maintain there was no crime committed, and the state has not alleged any actual criminal acts.

Hantz Marconi 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 rescued from important cases pending or imminently pending before the New Hampshire Supreme Court,” the indictments state.

No threat was made, nor was there any improper request, Guerriero claims. Prosecutors have not yet made their evidence available to the defense, so it is not clear who reported Hantz Marconi to Formella. Earlier this week, a panel of substitute judges sitting for the recused Supreme Court ordered Hantz Marconi’s law license suspended based on the fact she’s been charged with a felony.

Geno Marconi has been on leave from his job directing the ports since April of this year while the criminal investigation into his alleged acts proceeded. Geno Marconi and Bradley Cook, the chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council and a longtime fishing boat captain, were both indicted the same week as Hantz Marconi. Geno Marconi is accused of giving confidential driving records of an unnamed person to Cook, though the official charges give very little detail about the alleged crime. 

Hantz Marconi is facing charges of Attempt to Commit Improper Influence, Criminal Solicitation of Improper Influence, Official Oppression, Criminal  Solicitation of Official Oppression, Obstructing Government Administration, and Criminal Solicitation of Misuse of Position. Geno Marconi is indicted on felony charges of Tampering with Witnesses and Informants and Falsifying Physical Evidence. He’s also charged with four class A misdemeanors – two counts of Driver Privacy Act Violations and two counts of Obstructing Government Administration.

The four remaining New Hampshire Supreme Court justices won’t hear any arguments related to Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi after they ordered themselves off the case.

“Resolving it would require us to adjudicate the conduct of a current colleague, Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi,” the justices wrote in the order.

The order comes Wednesday hours after Hantz Marconi’s legal team filed a motion to boot Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald from the case, naming him as a material witness in her alleged crime. Hantz Marconi is charged with trying to pressure Gov. Chris Sununu to stop the criminal probe into her husband, New Hampshire Ports Director Geno Marconi.

Justice Barbara Hantz Marconi listens to oral arguments during a 2023 hearing.

According to the indictments handed down last week, Hantz Marconi met with Sununu in June and tried to get him to stop the investigation into Geno Marconi. 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.

But, according to the motion filed Wednesday, MacDonald encouraged her to talk to Sununu about her husband’s investigation, and told her it would not be illegal for her to do so.

“Justice Hantz Marconi did meet with Governor Sununu on June  6, 2024. The meeting was entirely lawful and proper. One of the key facts demonstrating that the meeting was lawful and proper is that Justice Hantz Marconi communicated with Chief Justice MacDonald prior to meeting with Governor Sununu. Justice Hantz Marconi explained to Chief Justice MacDonald that she was considering requesting a meeting with the Governor. The Chief Justice’s response was, ‘I think you can do that – You  are a constituent and have concerns.’ Justice Hantz Marconi understood this comment to confirm her view that she had the right to seek to address the Governor, just as any other citizen would have that right,” her motion states.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald

Hantz Marconi was placed on administrative leave soon after that June 6 meeting. Geno Marconi has been on leave from his job directing the ports since April of this year. Both were indicted last week.

Hantz Marconi is facing charges of Attempt to Commit Improper Influence, Criminal Solicitation of Improper Influence, Official Oppression, Criminal Solicitation of Official Oppression, Obstructing Government Administration, and Criminal Solicitation of Misuse of Position. Geno Marconi is indicted on felony charges of Tampering with Witnesses and Informants and Falsifying Physical Evidence. He’s also charged with four class A misdemeanors–two counts of Driver Privacy Act Violations and two counts of Obstructing Government Administration.

Geno Marconi is accused of giving confidential driving records of an unnamed person to Brad Cook, chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council and a longtime fishing boat captain. Cook is charged with one count class B felony Perjury as well as two counts of class A misdemeanor False Swearing.

In the meantime, Hantz Marconi agreed to a suspension of her law license as the case against her is proceeding. The New Hampshire Attorney Discipline Office planned to open up a formal proceeding to get Hantz Marconi suspended, but the justice agreed to the suspension.

If she were to fight the Attorney Discipline process, Hantz Marconi’s law license case would eventually end up before the Supreme Court and MacDonald. The Supreme Court’s total recusal effects that process, as well any challenges she brings during her criminal trial in Merrimack Superior Court.

Rather than merely having MacDonald remove himself from the case, Associate Justices James Bassett, Patrick Donovan, and Melissa Countway are also stepping aside. If a full slate of alternates cannot be found, however, at least some of the justices will take their seats.

“Our recusal is conditioned upon the availability of substitute justices to participate in this case. In the event that substitute justices are not available, the ‘rule of necessity’ may compel our participation,” the order states. 

Under state law, the courts will randomly pick substitutes from a pool of retired Supreme Court and Superior Court justices. If there are not enough retired justices available, a random selection will be made from active Superior Court Justices, and then District Court justices if the need arises.

New Hampshire Ports Director Geno Marconi is formally facing criminal charges a day after his wife, Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, was indicted for interfering in her husband’s criminal investigation.

A grand jury indicted Marconi on two class B felonies – Tampering with Witnesses and Informants and Falsifying Physical Evidence. He’s also charged with four class A misdemeanors – two counts of Driver Privacy Act Violations and two counts of Obstructing Government Administration.

Also charged on Thursday: Bradley Cook, chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council and a longtime fishing boat captain. Cook was indicted on one class B felony charge for Perjury as well as two counts of class A misdemeanor False Swearing.

Marconi illegally provided Cook with the confidential driving records of another person, known in the indictments as N.L., according to the indictments. Marconi is also alleged to have deleted a voice mail in order to hinder any investigation, the indictments state. Cook is accused of lying to the grand jury when questioned about N.L.’s driving records.

The purpose of the alleged lying and leaking of confidential records by two public officials is not yet clear. Cook spoke to the press before he was called to testify before the grand jury in September. Cook blamed the whole drama on Gov. Chris Sununu and a development plan for Rye Harbor that both Cook and Marconi opposed.

“I would say all of this is because Geno would not bend a knee to Chris Sununu, wouldn’t do what the governor wanted, and instead supports what is right and fair for other people,” Cook told InDepthNH.

Cook did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Marconi’s attorneys also did not respond.

Granite State political circles have been buzzing about the Marconis since Geno was placed on leave from his Ports job in April without explanation. That was followed by the stunning news that Justice Hantz Marconi was put on 90-day administrative leave in July, also without an explanation.

It now appears punitive action was taken after she allegedly approached Sununu in a private meeting. Hantz Marconi had been recusing herself from Supreme Court cases involving the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office for months. The Supreme Court issued a new order Thursday extending Hantz Marconi’s leave indefinitely as she deals with the criminal charges. 

Hantz Marconi, 68, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2017 after being nominated by Sununu. She is close to the mandatory retirement age of 70 for New Hampshire judges. Her term ends in February 2026.

Cook and Marconi both opposed the Pease Development Authority’s (PDA) $1 million plan to develop a raised platform at Rye Harbor for retail shops and restaurants. Though it had backing from the PDA and Sununu, the plan was amid local opposition shelved in August.

Cook and Marconi are due in Rockingham Superior Court on Nov. 27 for arraignment. Hantz Marconi is due for her arraignment in Merrimack Superior Court on Nov. 21. She’s accused of trying to pressure Sununu to drop the investigation, and she is alleged to have sought private information from PDA Chair Steve Duprey. 

Republicans who spoke to NHJournal on background are split on the matter. Many are friends of Justice Hantz Marconi and find it hard to believe she would intentionally break the law, even on behalf of her husband. Others complain that, once she knew the situation she was in, she should have resigned and allowed another justice to be appointed. And there is widespread criticism of how Formella is handling Justice Hantz Marconi’s part in the scandal.

“If he has enough to charge her, then he should have enough to get her to resign and avoid this mess,” one Republican activist told NHJournal.

Another Republican with close ties to Pease said the information blackout is a problem.

“It’s the biggest mystery out there. Somebody should let us know what the hell is going on. This has been going on forever.”

This isn’t the first time in recent memory a New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice has been in trouble. In 2000, Associate Justice Stephen Thayer’s divorce wound up before the state Supreme Court, forcing two of his fellow members to recuse themselves. That resulted in Chief Justice David Brock appointing two different judges to a panel overseeing the Thayer divorce. 

In the mess that ensued, Thayer was forced to resign to avoid criminal charges and Brock was impeached. He was acquitted in the Senate.

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.