Most people are familiar with the concept of a prenuptial agreement, an agreement between a couple planning on getting married about how issues such as division of property will be resolved if they are ever divorced in the future. Less well known, but increasingly common are postnuptial agreements. Like a prenuptial agreement, a postnuptial agreement determines how issues relating to a...
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In the wake of the verdict in the George Zimmerman case, it makes sense to examine New Hampshire’s self defense law. In 2011 the New Hampshire Legislature voted to expand the so-called NH stand your ground law to allow people to use deadly force to protect themselves in public spaces. This law is codified in RSA 627:4. Prior to 2011,...
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Most everyone knows that plea bargaining is a regular part of our criminal justice system. It’s been estimated that about 95% of all felony conviction nationwide come by plea bargain rather than a jury trial. In fact, without plea bargaining the court dockets would be overwhelmed and the system would get bogged down. While on many occasions plea bargaining...
Read More 🡒On April 17, 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court issued the opinion of Missouri v McNeely and ruled that it violates the Fourth Amendment for a police officer to forcefully take a driver’s blood as part of a routine DWI investigation. Tyler McNeely was stopped for speeding and crossing the center line at about 2:00 AM. McNeely did poorly on field sobriety tests and...
Read More 🡒One of the toughest decisions a defendant has to make is whether or not to testify. Usually the first question a defendant will ask is — what is the prosecutor going to ask me about if I go on the stand? Over the past several years, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has been clear about what the prosecutor can’t ask...
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When a court issues a restraining order in New Hampshire the restrained party cannot possess a firearm. This means if the restrained party owns firearms, he must relinquish them, most often to the police. RSA 173-B:5(X) states that when one has relinquished his firearm to the police, he may request the return of his firearm 15 days prior to the...
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