New Hampshire Case Victories

On April 1, 2021, we won a major victory in the NH Supreme Court that made the national news, receiving coverage in the ABA Journal, NH Public Radio, the Union Leader newspaper, and elsewhere. In In re Blaisdell, decided on April 1, the New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned prior precedent and held that a same-sex extramarital affair constitute adultery. 18 years ago, in 2003, a divided Court had narrowly held in the Blancheflower case that same-sex affairs do not give rise to a fault-based ground for divorce. In our case, In re Blaisdell, the Court recognized that the Legislature fundamentally transformed the marital laws when it adopted civil unions, and then gay marriage, just six years after Blancheflower. How could the Legislature have granted gay people the privileges, but not the responsibilities, of marriage? And thus, the Court unanimously overruled Blancheflower, and made its ruling retroactive. Read more here. Read More

In State v. Newcomb, 161 N.H. 666 (2011), an appeal won by Ted Lothstein, the New Hampshire Supreme Court reversed a lower court's order upholding the warrantless search of the locked cargo area of a rented U-Haul truck. The Kensington Police had arrested the U-Haul driver for criminal trespass. Like most police departments, Kensington has a policy allowing so-called 'inventory searches' which are post-arrest searches of vehicles in order to make a list of the driver's personal property in the vehicle. This is supposed to protect the driver from theft by the tow company or other third party that takes custody of the vehicle, and protect the police from false claims of theft. Kensington's policy allowed only searches of "unlocked areas and containers," with two exceptions: a locked glove compartment, and a locked trunk. The lower court had reasoned that the cargo area of a U-Haul truck is the equivalent of the trunk of a passenger vehicle. But the Supreme Court held that the lower court literally 'stretched' the analogy too far -- a trunk is defined as the "luggage compartment of an automobile," while a U-Haul cargo truck is "much larger than the average trunk and is intended to carry significantly more cargo," and unlike any car's trunk that I have ever seen, the U-Haul's cargo area is locked with a padlock. Accordingly, Mr. Newcomb faced only the relatively minor misdemeanor offense, criminal trespass, and was saved from the much more serious charges that arose from the unlawful search of his U-Haul truck. State v. Newcomb, 161 N.H. 666 Read More

10/12/2018: In our most recent and perhaps our greatest victory, we won an appeal granting a new trial to a beloved and esteemed therapist wrongfully accused of sexual assault by a client. On October 12, 2018, the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a critical victory we had already won in the Superior Court - a victory that freed a therapist from prison who had been wrongfully accused of sexual assault by a client, and cleared his name. The Court held that the Superior Court was right to vacate the jury verdicts and sentences, and grant a new trial, for the therapist because juror bias infected the proceedings, resulting in an unfair trial. On October 17, 2018, the Merrimack County Attorney's Office issued a press release, announcing the State would not bring the case to trial again. Instead, the State dismissed the charges. Read More about Dr. Afshar's Case Read More

Our client was charged with Attempted Sale of Narcotic Drugs, a class B felony, based on an undercover investigation by the NH State Police. An affidavit filed with the Court alleged that client had agreed to sell narcotic drugs to an undercover informant supervised by the Drug Task Force, took the money for the drugs, but then fled and never supplied the drugs. Client retained Ted Lothstein of Lothstein Guerriero, PLLC. After negotiation, we were able to secure a plea to a misdemeanor theft, with a jail sentence that was fully suspended, conditioned on payment of $500 restitution to the NH Drug Task Force. In March, 2016, Judge Tucker of the Merrimack County Superior Court accepted the plea agreement. For client, this meant no felony conviction, no jail time, no probation. A very good outcome! Read More

Grafton County Superior Court, N. Haverhill, NH. Client, a student at Plymouth State University, was prosecuted after selling drugs to an undercover officer just off campus. The Grafton County Attorney's Office argued that client should serve 6 months in jail. In May, 2016, Attorney Ted Lothstein successfully argued that that because client had no prior record, had graduated from college, and had secured a good job, the Court should put him on probation rather than sending him to jail. Read More

On March 28, 2017, the Merrimack County Superior Court granted a 54-page Motion for New Trial that we filed on behalf of a client who had been convicted of Aggravated Felonious Sexual Assault and sent to prison. This victory resulted in the immediate release of our client from prison. The victory also received widespread press coverage in the Concord Monitor, WMUR and other media outlets. For more details, and to access the press coverage, click here. Read More

In the 3d Circuit-District Division-Ossipee Court, the Moultonborough Police Department investigated Client and several others, accusing them of Burglary and Theft, for breaking into a commercial building and stealing items including bottles of alcoholic beverages. Client was also investigated for Criminal Mischief, for throwing eggs at cars in an unrelated incident on a different date. If convicted of Burglary, this young client would have become a convicted felon, and possibly gone to jail, with a ruinous impact on his future. Instead, Attorney Lothstein secured a plea to the class B misdemeanor of Criminal Trespass. This is the lowest-level misdemeanor in NH law - the only possible punishment is a fine. A second class B misdemeanor for Criminal Mischief was placed on file without a finding (no conviction). Client paid a fine, and paid restitution for damage to the commercial building and the vehicle that was struck by eggs. Because there was no felony conviction, no probation, and no suspended sentence, Client will be eligible for complete annulment of the record of arrest and conviction in just three years. The waiting period easily could have been as long as 10 years or more if he had been convicted of a felony, depending on the terms of the sentence. Read More

Charlestown Police Department stop Client after observing what they believe to be suspicious behavior in a neighborhood that had multiple burglaries in recent weeks, and charge Client with Aggravated DWI based on breath test over .16. After Attorney Lothstein files motion to suppress the stop, prosecutor gives Client opportunity to plead guilty to reckless operation, and dismisses the Aggravated DWI charge, saving Client from mandatory jail time, mandatory minimum one year license revocation, mandatory ignition interlock for one year! Read More