Defense attorney Mark Sisti (left) and former state Sen. Jeffrey Woodburn prepare to leave a Coos Superior courtroom on March 14 after the declaration of a mistrial in Woodburn’s 2018 case involving domestic violence charges. (Photo by Lisa D. Connell)
Former state senator Jeffrey Woodburn has lost his last attempt to overturn his conviction on two charges of criminal mischief and is facing 30 days in the House of Correction.
The N.H. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld Coos County Superior Court Judge Peter Bornstein’s decision denying Woodburn’s request for a new trial.
Bornstein had earlier sentenced Woodburn to serve 30 days on the two charges but the sentence was stayed while Woodburn appealed.
Woodburn served three terms in the state Senate, from 2012-2017. He lost his re-election bid in 2018.
The Supreme Court decision brings to an end a legal case that began in August 2018, when Woodburn was arrested on nine misdemeanor charges, stemming from a series of incidents that took place regarding his former fiancée, Emily Jacobs.
The 58-year-old Democrat from Whitefield said Tuesday he’s relieved this chapter of his life is over and stressed that he had been cleared of all domestic violence and simple assault charges.
He noted that of the nine original charges “only two property crimes — door kicking incidents —remain.”
Woodburn said the case will now return to the Superior Court for a hearing and the judge will decide whether to impose the 30-day sentence.
After a trial in Coos Superior Court in May 2021, a jury found Woodburn guilty of two counts of criminal mischief, one count of simple assault and one count of domestic violence.
But the jury ruled Woodburn not guilty of one count of domestic violence, three counts of simple assault, and one count of criminal trespass.
Woodburn appealed, arguing that Bornstein erred in not allowing him to claim self-defense. The Supreme Court ruled in Woodburn’s favor on the assault and domestic violence charges and remanded them back to Superior for retrial but upheld the two criminal mischief convictions.
The Attorney-General’s office last month said it would not retry Woodburn on the assault and domestic violence charges, and they were dismissed.
Woodburn appealed the two remaining criminal mischief charges, arguing his prior attorney, Donna Brown, provided ineffective counseling.
His current attorney, Mark Sisti, said Brown should have severed the charges. He said the jury heard testimony about Woodburn and Jacobs’ relationship that would have been excluded if the cases were separated.
Bornstein denied the appeal and Woodburn then took the case to the Supreme Court. But the higher court upheld Bornstein’s ruling. It noted that the jury acquitted Woodburn of more than half the charges against him and the guilty verdicts in the criminal mischief cases were based on Woodburn’s own testimony. The Supreme Court based its decision on written arguments and the record submitted and without oral arguments.
The former senator charged politics was behind his arrest a month before the 2018 primary and was done to undermine his political career and planned future run for governor.
“Let’s remember where this ordeal started with a slew of slanderous charges brought by a scorned ex-partner and overzealous prosecutor to up-end an election. I promised then that I’d never back down and that the process would reveal not only the truth but the tactics, motivation and politics,” he said.
Woodburn said he feels his earlier legal victory before the state Supreme Court showed he was “wrongly convicted of the vile crime of domestic violence and that the process was unfair.” He said he will now use his story to help others and advocate for reforms in the criminal justice system.
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