Verrill case must be tossed due to probe's 'purposeful' malfeasance, lawyer says

Murder suspect Timothy Verrill follows a court security office from the courtroom after his defense team argued the case against him should be dismissed. (Rochester Voice photo)

DOVER - The judge overseeing the murder trial of a Dover man accused in the deaths of two women in Farmington in 2017 has taken under advisement a motion to dismiss the case over what the defense has characterized as a systemic pattern of malfeasance with regards to discovery disclosures by state police and investigators.

Defense attorneys for Timothy Verrill, the man accused of killing Christine Sullivan and Jenna Pellegrini on Jan. 27, 2017, say their ability to give their client a competent defense has been compromised due to "systemic and purposeful" nondisclosure of exculpatory evidence beginning with the first months of the murder investigations.

The disturbing revelations reported by the defense were recently discovered after a person with knowledge of the case read a news report and got in touch with them regarding the discovery issues.

"Discovery" in a criminal trial refers to the mutual obligation by the prosecution and the defense regarding sharing of evidence.

Speaking for the prosecution, Senior Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley agreed that the defense had a right to be angry about some of the noncompliance issues with respect to discovery but said none of it was purposeful or intentional, but rather due to the scope of the case, which comprises thousands of evidentiary items including photos, surveillance images, text messages, emails along with scores of witness interviews in both New Hampshire and Florida.

At the center of the discovery controversy was former lead investigator State Police Lt. Brian Strong, who has since been removed from the position, Hinckley said.

Strong had been charged with making sure every investigative contact with witnesses including emails, text messages as well as video and audio recordings was memorialized for inspection by the defense, something he failed to do in several instances, Hinckley admitted.

But he said it was not malfeasance, but unfeasance, essentially an error of omission rather than commission.

Both Strong and State Trooper Brian McCauley were grilled Thursday afternoon by Verrill defense attorney Julia Nye, who walked them through several discovery oversights, including vast numbers of contacts with witnesses that were not disclosed to her or fellow defense attorney Meredith Lugo.

Nye revealed several instances in which McCauley failed to investigate further after witnesses disclosed information that pointed to Dean Smoronk, Christine Sullivan's longtime boyfriend and convicted drug trafficker, as perhaps the women's killer. Nye also implied many of these findings by McCauley could have helped the defense and proved exculpatory for Verrill.

Hinckley argued in rebuttal that almost all of such claims revealed by Nye were third or fourth person accounts or hearsay and couldn't be presented as evidence.

In summation, Nye argued that due to overwhelming, systemic malfeasance by the State Police Major Crimes Unit, the defense team's ability to provide Verrill proper representation had been compromised.

She urged the judge to dismiss the case, not only in fairness to Verrill but also to send a strong, punitive message to the state's major crimes unit for their slipshod reporting of discovery items necessary to his defense.

Hinckley agreed that the major crimes unit had failed in its duty to report many discovery items and witness interaction with investigators, but called a motion to dismiss unprecedented in such a case.

He also said much of the discovery items the defense didn't receive would have been inculpatory rather than exculpatory.

Among some of the bizarre hearsay evidence investigators had gathered but not forwarded to the defense was the story told by one Florida person who knew Smoronk who said he'd killed a transvestite, stolen their identity and flown under their name to a New Jersey airport before traveling to Farmington where he killed Sullivan and then had Verrill kill Pellegrini.

"That he killed a transvestite, took his ID, then with a third man called "Spider (killed Sullivan) and then got Verrill to commit the second murder is factually ridiculous and purely fanciful," Hinckley said.

If Strafford County Superior Court Judge Steven M. Houran decides not to dismiss the case he can make several remedial moves for the defense such as allowing them more time to subpoena Florida witnesses.

The trial continued with forensic testimony on Friday afternoon.

Houran is likely to make his decision on whether to dismiss on Monday when the trial resumes at 1 p.m.