Rockingham County Sheriff Dan Linehan and Maj. Mark Peirce resigned yesterday afternoon to avoid criminal prosecution for leaking the records of a political opponent's annulled arrest and conviction, Attorney General Michael A. Delaney said yesterday afternoon.
Delaney said his office produced evidence that Linehan caused the information to be released about his 2008 election opponent, David Lovejoy, to two reporters.
"Our investigation produced sufficient evidence that Sheriff Linehan had requested and had the intent of disclosing the annulled criminal record, and we were prepared to proceed forward with criminal proceedings," Delaney said. "However, we were able to reach this disposition in lieu of proceeding with criminal charges."
Releasing an annulled record of arrest or conviction is a misdemeanor.
"We expect our highest-ranking law enforcement officials to obey the law. In this case, that did not occur," Delaney said. "And this disposition reflects the fact that we expect our elected officials to abide by the law under all circumstances."
By law, the "control and authority of the sheriff's office" will go to the next senior ranking official, Capt. Al Brackett, he said.
Linehan and Peirce both relinquished their certifications as police officers, Delaney said, and Linehan agreed not to seek any law enforcement position in the state.
Delaney said there was "sufficient evidence" that Linehan's staff leaked the information to Electra Alessio, the publisher and editor of the weekly Carriage Towne News in Kingston, a sister publication of The Eagle-Tribune. Alessio was not available for comment yesterday.
Delaney said the information was also leaked to a reporter for the Portsmouth Herald, Karen Dandurant, who published a story about the annulled case in October 2008.
Delaney said Linehan and Peirce were cooperative during the investigation.
"I felt it was appropriate for Sheriff Linehan and Maj. Peirce to resign in lieu of proceeding with a criminal investigation," he said.
County delegation likely to hold election
Delaney said the county delegation has the authority to appoint a new sheriff by majority vote to serve out the remainder of Linehan's term, which runs through the end of 2010.
County Commission Chairwoman Maureen Barrows said the opening would be posted and the delegation would accept resumes and conduct interviews.
"Then the delegation will vote for the candidate they feel best suited to finish out the sheriff's term," she said.
The county commissioner or the county attorney can petition the Superior Court to appoint an interim sheriff before the delegation votes, Delaney said. But Barrows said the plan was to leave Brackett in charge.
"(Brackett) is a good and decent man, and he's fully capable of running the department," Barrows said.
Representative: A difficult situation
Rep. David Welch, R-Kingston, a member of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, said yesterday he wasn't surprised by the resignations.
"No, it wasn't a surprise," he said. "I kept in touch with the sheriff throughout most of this process, although not in any great detail."
Welch said he wasn't sure Linehan knew releasing the information was against the law when he did it. And he added that he wasn't sure the law is a good thing in this case.
"To that extent, my feeling is he felt the voters should know who they were voting for. In that respect, I agree with him," he said. "In the broader spectrum, people have the right to vote for whoever they want. It's up to voters to make those inquiries and satisfy themselves they're voting for the right person."
Welch qualified it as a difficult situation to judge.
"For certain offices, for instance the county sheriff, I think the people need to have complete confidence and trust in the people they're voting for," Welch said. "When there's something in the record people know about, but it's no longer available ... it's kind of a shame this information cannot be made available."
He said the Sheriff's Department was in "kind of rough shape" when Linehan took over 13 years ago.
"He's done a lot to professionalize the department and enhance the various areas where the department has influence," Welch said. "And I think his handiwork will prove out that the department is working and will continue."
Welch said he expected the delegation to discuss whether to stage an election, which he suspected it will. He said there were no immediate concerns about the department.
"I asked the sheriff fairly recently and he said Capt. Brackett would most likely take over," he said. "He had every confidence Brackett would be able to do a good job."
There are 89 members of the county delegation. Welch said he believed if an election is staged, the vote would be done by secret ballot, not a roll call.
Asked whether he thought Lovejoy would put himself forward as a candidate, Welch said he might, but, "I would hope not."
Lovejoy could not be reached for comment yesterday.
In his letter of resignation, Linehan wrote that his attorney advised him that the evidence might not sustain the case against him, and he could be protected by the First Amendment and be exonerated. But he decided to resign, he wrote, because he was "unaware of the statute at issue last October" and because "a prolonged disagreement with the Attorney General's Office potentially would cripple the Sheriff's Office's ability to function as a cohesive law enforcement unit."
Barrows called the resignation "shocking."
"I'm terribly disappointed, and there's some very long faces around here," she said yesterday afternoon.
Linehan, a 23-year veteran with the state police, became sheriff in 1997, and ran unopposed in 2000, 2002 and 2004. He was named County Sheriff of the Year in 1998 by the New Hampshire Association of Counties.
Staff writer Jo-Anne MacKenzie contributed to this report.
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