New Hampshire Case Laws
Click on the below to read New Hampshire Case Laws for the following years:
2012
New Hampshire Case Law 2012
In State v. McGurk, 2012 WL 1649752 (N.H. May 11, 2012) the defendant failed to appear because he was incarcerated in Vermont. The Court thought that appearance of the defendant was not prevented “by the act of God, or the government of the United States or of this state or by sentence of law” and therefore the surety had not shown a statutory ground for relief from its obligation. If the defendant had been arrested and held by the federal government or by a New Hampshire jurisdiction, the surety would have been entitled to relief, but arrest by another state did not qualify. The Court affirmed judgment forfeiting the bonds.
In Fischer v. Superintendent, Strafford County House of Corrections, 2012 WL 1370828 (N.H. April 20, 2012) the trial court set bail at $50,000 to convert to personal recognizance if Stafford County Community Corrections (SCCC) found that the defendant’s proposed living arrangements were acceptable. The defendant proposed several living arrangements that were not acceptable to SCCC, and the bond therefore did not “convert” to personal recognizance. The defendant argued that the trial court unconstitutionally delegated its authority to set bail to SCCC in violation of the principle of separation of powers. The Court held that there was no violation because the trial court set the bail conditions and SCCC only made recommendations. The Court stated, “We see little functional difference between SCCC determining that it could not adequately supervise the petitioner in the residential placements he proposed and SCCC recommending against pretrial release. That the court decided the alternative consequences of SCCC’s decision prior to SCCC making it does not make the ultimate decision any less the court’s.”