People often ask, what evidence is allowed in court? Witnesses can generally testify about what they personally saw or heard. When it comes to their opinions, however, the rules are very strict. A recent New Hampshire Supreme Court decision illustrates this point well. Mother as a Witness The prosecutor charged the defendant, Richard Waite, with multiple counts of sexually abusing...
Read More 🡒Major Immigration Ruling The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that immigrants who are waiting to be removed from the country can be held indefinitely without a bail hearing. ICE usually holds immigrants facing removal in an immigration detention facility, which is like a jail. The people in these jails may have come to the country without permission. Or they...
Read More 🡒Wendy and Michael White divorced in 2003. The judge ordered Michael to pay child support for their two children. Their older child was 18 and graduated high school in 2014. By New Hampshire law, therefore, there was no longer a support obligation for the older child after he graduated. If there was only child, Michael’s payments would stop automatically. But...
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Child Support Guidelines Heath Gosselin filed to reduce the child support to his ex-wife, Kathryn Page. In child support cases, the first thing the Judge always has to do is calculate the “guidelines“. Using the income of both parents, and tables provided by law, the Judge figures out the guidelines number. The Judge should start with the presumption that the...
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ATTORNEY CRIMINALLY CHARGED In the opinion of Gallant’s Case, issued December 29, 2017, the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld the suspension of Attorney John F. Gallant from the practice of law. The case demonstrates the intersection between family law and criminal law. Attorney Gallant represented his former law partner whose ex-girlfriend obtained a restraining order against him. Attorney Gallant was...
Read More 🡒Patrick Roland pled guilty to DWI. Although he had a prior DWI on his record, the plea bargain changed it to a “first” offense. This is a common plea bargain in DWI cases. From the prosecutor’s perspective it avoids the time and expense in taking the case to trial. The prosecutor also eliminates the risk of losing with no conviction...
Read More 🡒Pretrial Credit Case In the recently issued opinion of State v Theo Bosa the New Hampshire Supreme Court had occasion to clarify how pretrial credit should be calculated when a defendant has charges pending in different courts. Theo Bosa was charged with a felony level assault of his girlfriend in Superior Court. He also had warrants that the police discovered...
Read More 🡒Dying For a Divorce Arthur and Patricia Sweatt were going through a divorce after 36 years of marriage. Sadly, Patricia was also terminally ill. In the middle of their divorce, she filed a motion to “bifurcate” the proceedings. What this means in plain English is that she wanted to have the divorce made final while she was still alive, even...
Read More 🡒Three Hung Juries One of New Hampshire’s most convoluted murder cases is going forward. Back in 1988 the police charged Anthony Barnaby with stabbing two women to death. Prosecutors tried Barnaby three times in 1989 and 1990. Each of those trials, however, ended in a hung jury. This means at least one juror did not find Barnaby guilty. Back then,...
Read More 🡒We here at Cohen & Winters don’t practice land law. A recent New Hampshire Supreme Court decision, however, provides an interesting look at how you can lose your property rights if you aren’t careful. Trouble in Paradise The McKay family has had property in Hampton, near the beach, since 1963. In 1993 they put up a fence between their property,...
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