State prosecutors are pushing back on Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi’s claims that she had approval to talk to the governor about how an investigation into her husband was affecting her work on the bench.
That June 6, 2024, meeting between Hantz Marconi and then Gov. Chris Sununu is central to the state’s criminal case against the justice, who is accused of attempting to improperly influence the criminal proceedings involving her husband, the state’s longtime ports director. Hantz Marconi is facing a range of criminal indictments, including two felonies, and is currently suspended from the supreme court.
Her lawyers have previously argued that New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald knew and approved her plans to meet with Sununu. But, according to the newly released court transcripts, MacDonald denied he spoke with Hantz Marconi about the meeting.
“I did not know she was going to see the governor,” MacDonald told investigators, according to the transcript.
MacDonald also said the governor called him shortly after the meeting with Hantz Marconi concluded.
“My memory is [the call] was very brief. My memory is that’s news to me. I said ‘that’s news to me,’” MacDonald said.
Sununu, separately, told investigators he found the conversation with Hantz Marconi “awkward” at times and "quasi-inappropriate" but he did not believe she sought favorable treatment.
According to a court transcript, Sununu said Hantz Marconi shared concerns about how the investigation into her husband was impacting her judicial work. She was forced to recuse herself from all cases involving the Attorney General’s office during that probe. Sununu said she told him that was putting considerable strain on her fellow justices.
MacDonald told investigators that he assured Sununu, during their phone call after the governor’s meeting with Hantz Marconi, that the courts were able to function in her absence, and he bristled at her suggestions otherwise.
“I was angry,” MacDonald told investigators, adding “we’re gonna get the job done for the people of New Hampshire.”
Hantz Marconi’s legal team is asking a judge to dismiss the criminal charges against her, citing Sununu’s statements that he didn’t believe she violated the law during their meeting. State prosecutors, meanwhile, say they still believe they can secure a conviction should the case proceed to trial.
A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 3.
Hantz Marconi has been on administrative leave from the court since July. Her husband, Geno Marconi, was indicted in October, just a day after his wife’s charges became public, for allegedly sharing confidential motor vehicle information related to an associate in an act of retaliation.
Geno Marconi’s case has not yet been scheduled for trial, as defense attorneys say they need more time to sift through more than 20,000 pages of records recently turned over by prosecutors.
