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High Court hearing on Farmington murders case could still be months away

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Timothy Verrill chatting with defense counsel during his 2019 trial at Strafford County Superior Court. (Rochester Voice file photo)

CONCORD - In May it was announced the state's Highest Court would hear arguments on whether a Dover man charged in the killing of two women in Farmington in 2017 should have his charges dismissed due to discovery blunders made by the state during a 2019 trial, but those arguments might not be heard till at least February or March, or even later, a prosecutor in the case said on Friday.

Assistant District Attorney Peter Hinckley said both sides have asked for time extensions to ready their cases, and as of now, the state has until Jan. 20 to file a response to the latest brief submitted by the defense.

Hinckley said if they file their response then the defense would be given time to respond anew.

If no response is filed by the defense then the state's Supreme Court would schedule the oral arguments. Once heard, the Court would likely take two to six months to render its decision, which could be to grant or deny the dismissal, send it back to a lower court or something else, Hinckley added.

The man whose liberty is at stake is Timothy Verrill, 38, formerly of Belknap Street, Dover, who is accused of first-degree murder in the Jan. 27, 2017, deaths of Christine Sullivan, 48, of 979 Meaderboro Road, Farmington, and Jenna Pellegrini, 32, of Barrington.

The high court agreed to hear arguments from the defense in connection with voluminous discovery violations that occurred during Verrill's 2019 murder trial that ended with the defense asking and being granted a mistrial.

The defense at trial and in subsequent motions has argued that the court should have declared a mistrial with prejudice, but was denied. A mistrial with prejudice would have resulted in the murder charges being dismissed and the defendant set free.

In his final ruling denying the motion to dismiss with prejudice, Strafford Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard concluded in his February order that the defense was still open to exploring other remedies.

State prosecutors sought to correct the trial discovery violations midway through trial, but on Oct. 31, 2019, acknowledged that during their search for evidence to turn over they found it would be an overwhelming task and could not be expedited.
The next day Judge Steven M. Houran declared a mistrial, and the jury was excused.
"In the months following the mistrial, the defense team reviewed the additional undisclosed discovery, amounting to more than 500 written pages and 39 separate discs of media," Strafford County Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard wrote in his February decision to deny.

The High Court will specifically be expected to take a look at just how egregious the prosecution's discovery violations were in the 2019 trial, who is culpable and what specific remedies short of a dismissal might be appropriate moving forward.

The defense's key strategy is expected to be centered around the arguments of double jeopardy and due process, further alleging the prosecution "goaded" the defense into asking for a retrial.

The prosecution has vehemently denied such charges, saying they were trying to be open and transparent once the voluminous nature of the discovery blunders were unearthed.

Dean Smoronk (Virginia State Police photo)

Verrill, a longtime friend of thrice-convicted drug trafficker Dean V. Smoronk who formerly owned the Meaderboro Road house where the killings occurred, is accused of bludgeoning and stabbing to death Sullivan, Smoronk's longtime girlfriend, and Pellegrini on Jan. 27, 2017.

Smoronk pleaded guilty to trafficking meth in September 2019 and was sentenced to 42 months. He is expected to be released from a Residential Reentry Management center in Philadelphia on Jan. 9.

During Verrill's trial defense team sought to portray Smoronk as one of several alternative suspects in the women's deaths.

Verrill remains held at the Carroll County House of Corrections. He faces life in prison without parole if found guilty. He has been incarcerated since Feb. 6, 2017, when he was arrested as a fugitive from justice in Lawrence, Mass.

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