Lawyers for Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, a New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice who is facing criminal charges for allegedly trying to improperly influence former Gov. Chris Sununu, told a court Monday that the state does not have sufficient evidence to back its case.
Prosecutors, though, said that the accusations against Hantz Marconi, which include two felony indictments, should be left in the hands of a jury to decide.
Hantz Marconi is accused of attempting to use her influence with Sununu in an effort to curtail an investigation into her husband, Geno Marconi, the state’s longtime ports director. A grand jury handed down seven charges against Hantz Marconi last year related to her conduct during a private meeting in Sununu’s office on June 6, 2024.
Hantz Marconi is seeking to have the indictments dismissed, arguing that she used the meeting to discuss her frustrations and concerns about the investigation into her husband, including that she was forced to recuse herself from a sizeable portion of the cases before her, and that it was impacting the court’s functioning.
Her lawyer, Richard Guerriero, told a superior court judge Monday that Hantz Marconi didn’t cross any lines during the private meeting with Sununu, and that her free speech rights are in jeopardy.
“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 prosecutors told the court Monday that a grand jury found there was sufficient evidence against Hantz Marcon to bring the criminal case, and that it should ultimately be up to a jury of her peers to decide if she is guilty of the alleged conduct.
At issue, assistant attorney general Joe Fincham told the judge, is what was Hantz Marconi’s state of mind at the time of the meeting with Sununu.
“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 told the court.
Judge Martin Honigberg, who is presiding over the criminal trial, did not immediately make a decision on the request to dismiss the indictments.
Recently released transcripts show that both Sununu and his legal counsel at the time, Rudy Ogdin, told prosecutors that they did not believe Hantz Marconi attempted to exert any pressure or seek favorable treatment for her husband, though Sununu did say the meeting was awkward.
“No, there was no ask, there was nothing, ‘Governor, I wish you could do this,’ or there was nothing like that,” Sununu told prosecutors, according to a transcript of a voluntary interview.
Hantz Marconi’s attorney pointed to Sununu’s statements during Monday’s hearing, saying it amounted to further proof that the case should be dismissed.
Should the case go to trial, Sununu, as well as his former legal counsel, would likely be key witnesses.
New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald could also be called to testify. Hantz Marconi alleges that he gave her permission to speak with Sununu prior to the meeting, though MacDonald, according to transcripts of his own voluntary interview with investigators, said he didn’t remember any conversation with Hantz Marconi about a meeting.
MacDonald also told investigators that her alleged statements to Sununu about the court suffering under the weight of her absence were inaccurate.
Hantz Marconi has been placed 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.
In a separate criminal indictment, Hantz Marconi is also accused of improperly influencing Steve Duprey, who was appointed by Sununu to serve as the board chair for the Pease Development Authority, or PDA.
The PDA oversees the state’s ports, and in April, the board placed Geno Marconi on administrative leave after learning from the Department of Justice that he was under criminal investigation.
(Duprey also serves on the NHPR Board of Directors, but has no influence over the station’s news coverage.)
