CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The New Hampshire Supreme Court has ruled in favor of three Manchester police officers who want their names removed from the county attorney’s confidential list of officers who might have credibility issues.
Officers Jonathan Duchesne, Matthew Jajuga and Michael Buckley landed on the list after an off-duty fight at the Strange Brew Tavern in March 2010. The officers injured a bar patron after they intervened in his dispute with the bar’s owner.
County attorneys keep confidential lists of police officers who may have past problems or disciplinary actions that might be subject to cross examination during a trial, and turn that information over to defendants in the interest of fairness.
Manchester Police Chief David Mara determined they had used excessive force and suspended them without pay. But the disciplinary action was overturned by a neutral arbiter and all mention of the incident was removed from their personnel files. The attorney general’s office also determined, after a nearly yearlong investigation, that the officers’ use of force during the incident was justified.
“Given that the original allegation of excessive force has been determined to be unfounded, there is no sustained basis for the (officers’) placement on the Laurie List,” Justice Robert Lynn said in the unanimous decisions on Thursday. He said it “makes no sense” that their names linger on the list.
The Laurie List gets its name from a 1995 New Hampshire court ruling - State v. Laurie - affirming a criminal defendant’s right to information that may be used to impeach an officer’s credibility. The court noted in its ruling that the conduct of the three Manchester officers was strikingly different than the pattern of lying and physical abuse by the officer in the Laurie case, who was deemed to be psychologically unfit to carry a gun.
The justices used Thursday’s decision to clarify their ruling of 20 years ago in the Laurie case, saying police personnel file information is relevant only when it goes to an officer’s character and credibility.
“There are no losers with that ruling,” said attorney Carolyn Kirby, who represented the Hillsborough County Attorney in the case. “It’s a clarifying ruling and that’s something a lot of prosecutors have been looking for a while.”
The justices reversed a lower court ruling denying the officers’ bid to have their names removed from the list and sent the case back to the trial court. The ruling states the officers “are entitled to be removed from the ’Laurie List.’”
Lawyers for the officers did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
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This story has been corrected to show the last name of the police officer is Buckley, not Budkley.
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