Verrill's second trial on murder charges postponed
DOVER — The double-murder trial of Timothy Verrill expected to begin this week has been postponed, a move by the defense that prosecutors said they did not see coming.
Verrill is charged with killing two women in Farmington in 2017. Prosecutors said Verrill believed they were informing authorities about his drug dealing. His first trial on the charges in 2019 ended in a mistrial after state police failed to provide the defense with exculpatory evidence.
According to court documents, the defense requested a continuation of the trial on Wednesday, Sept. 27. The motion was granted by the court on Thursday, Sept. 28. The proceedings had been scheduled to start Tuesday, Oct. 3 with jury selection.
"It was totally unexpected by us," said Senior Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinkley. "We were prepared to start jury selection and had about two dozen witnesses ready to go. We are disappointed and frustrated but life happens, events happen."
Hinkley said the request did not have anything to do with the fact that the defense had asked earlier to present the transcript testimony of Stephen Clough, who was killed in a motorcycle accident this summer. He said it is not the first time such a request has been made, and granted.
"There was a case in Concord about two years ago," said Hinkley.
No new court date has been scheduled for the trial.
"Several months had been set aside for this trial," said Hinkley. "The courts have a full calendar so I am not sure when this can be rescheduled. The court will reach out to both sides and we will figure out what works."
Calls to Meredith Lugo and Julia Nye, the public defenders representing Verrill, were not returned.
The second trial for Verrill is when his public defenders will get a chance to present evidence mistakenly withheld by prosecutors during his first trial.
When the case is rescheduled, Verrill's defense team will also be allowed to tell jurors the state's failure to present that evidence in 2019 caused a judge to declare a mistrial in the case against Verrill for the murders of Christine Sullivan and Jenna Pellegrini in Farmington in 2017.
"The court acknowledged that there were disclosure violations during his trial," said Hinkley. "The defense could use their newly acquired information at trial. I do not know their strategy yet."
In previous court filings, the public defender asked the court to order reimbursement for the defense's expense for additional investigation and subpoenas in Florida, to prohibit the state from using inculpatory information contained within discovery withheld in its case in chief. Also, to provide a jury instruction allowing the jury to draw an adverse inference against the state for its failure to provide significant discovery to the defense in a timely manner and to order that the state is prohibited from using transcripts of trial testimony to impeach, to refresh recollection of witness or to use in lieu of an unavailable witness.
What happened in the first Verrill murder trial?
Verrill was tried for the 2017 stabbing and beating deaths of Sullivan, 48, and Pellegrini, 32, at a home at 979 Meaderboro Road in Farmington. It was declared a mistrial in October 2019, when it was discovered New Hampshire State Police had failed to submit key evidence to the state attorney general's office. This included five witness interview recordings and various emails and text messages that investigators exchanged with witnesses. As a result, the discovery evidence was not provided to the defense until late in the trial.
Prosecutors in the state attorney general's office argued at trial that Verrill committed the crimes because he believed one of them was informing police about the drug trafficking enterprise in which Verrill, Sullivan and Sullivan's boyfriend were all involved, Foster's previously reported.
While the high court declined to dismiss the double murder charges Verrill faced, it also agreed the state's actions were not correct and remanded the case back to Strafford County Superior Court in Dover to determine what ramifications should result from the actions of the police, short of dismissing the case
Verrill's appeal hinged on whether the Supreme Court justices felt discovery evidence not released in a timely manner could adversely impact a new trial and if a new trial constituted double jeopardy.
The court ruled that because the first case ended in a mistrial, there was no double jeopardy in the state seeking a new trial.
Verrill remains in custody without bail at the Carroll County Jail.