The state is asking the court to delay the start of embattled Port Authority Director Geno Marconi’s November 3 trial on felony charges of witness tampering and falsifying evidence, because the same two prosecutors handling that case are also assigned to the trial of his wife, state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, which gets underway one day later.
Jury selection in Geno Marconi’s case was set for Nov. 3 in Rockingham County Superior Court Tuesday morning. The final pre-trial hearing is set for Oct. 15.
Geno Marconi, 73, faces two felony and four misdemeanor indictments that allege he shared protected motor vehicle details and pier permit fee information about Neil Levesque, vice chairman of the Pease Development Authority (PDA). Marconi has been on paid leave since last April.
Marconi’s wife, Supreme Court Associate Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi of Stratham, was indicted by a Merrimack County grand jury on seven felony and misdemeanor charges that she met with Gov. Chris Sununu and PDA Chairman Steve Duprey about the investigation.
Hantz Marconi was placed on administrative leave by the court on July 25, 2024. Jury selection in her case is scheduled for Nov. 4 in Merrimack County Superior Court.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Dan Jimenez and Assistant Attorney General Joe Fincham filed a motion Monday explaining to Judge David Ruoff this week that they are the prosecutors handling both cases.
“The State has the same two attorneys assigned to both matters and each has handled the two matters since the inception of each case,” the motion reads. “Both cases have nearly identical deadlines approaching and will require significant pre-trial litigation and trial preparation in anticipation of trial. Some witnesses are expected to testify in both trials. Simply put, the State’s attorneys cannot try the cases, and the witnesses cannot testify simultaneously in concurrent prosecutions in the two venues.”
The motion asks Ruoff to delay Geno Marconi’s trial until after Hantz Marconi’s trial is resolved, saying the Hantz Marconi trial should take precedence.
“Given the apparent unusual circumstances of these two prosecutions, under Rule 15(d)(4)(iv), the State anticipates that should this Court confer with the Merrimack Superior Court, the courts would agree that the case of State v. Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi should take precedence and a continuance in the above-captioned matter should be granted,” the motion reads.
Levesque, an avid fisherman who lives in Rye, is also director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. He is identified in court documents only as “NL.”
The state’s list of witnesses includes board members of the Pease Development Authority and employees of the Division of Ports and Harbors. It includes Levesque, PDA Chairman Duprey and Bradley Cook, chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council.
A final pretrial conference in the Hantz Marconi trial is scheduled for Oct. 27, with jury selection slated for Nov. 4. A three-day jury trial is anticipated to play out Nov. 17-19, according to a court filing.
Hantz Marconi was indicted by a Merrimack County grand jury on two felony charges — attempt to commit improper influence and criminal solicitation of improper influence — after she allegedly interfered with a criminal investigation involving her husband.
Hantz Marconi has also been charged with five misdemeanors: criminal solicitation of official oppression, official oppression, obstructing government administration and two counts of criminal solicitation of misuse of position.
The case centers around a meeting Hantz Marconi had with former governor Chris Sununu during the summer of 2024 in which she discussed her husband as well as her caseload, transcripts show. Her attorneys say no laws were broken, but prosecutors allege there was criminal intent.
Marconi’s legal team has asked that Attorney General John Formella be disqualified from her case, claiming the state’s top prosecutor will likely need to testify at trial. Hantz Marconi also wants all her charges dropped.