Hearing to determine whether former deputy can be recharged

LACONIA — Whether a former Belknap County sheriff’s deputy can be indicted again on sexual assault charges involving inmates will hinge on the outcome of a hearing scheduled for Thursday in Belknap County Superior Court.

The Belknap County Attorney’s Office has filed a motion asking Judge James D. O’Neill III to clarify his ruling that dismissed five indictments against Ernest Justin Blanchette, who was alleged to have used his position of authority to coerce female inmates into having sex with him or others during transport.

While the charges in Belknap County were pending, the state Supreme Court, in May 2017, threw out Blanchette’s conviction in a similar case in Hillsborough County on a legal technicality.

O’Neill dismissed the Belknap County charges in a ruling handed down on Oct. 17, 2017.

Assistant Belknap County Attorney Adam Woods has filed a motion for clarification, asking O’Neill to specify whether the judge dismissed the charges with prejudice, meaning permanently, or without prejudice.

“If he dismissed the charges with prejudice, it means we cannot re-indict [Blanchette],” Woods said Tuesday. “If he dismissed without prejudice, it means we can then go back and fix what is deficient and then re-indict.”

Woods’ motion states that O’Neill’s failed to state in his ruling whether the case against Blanchette can be brought back to court.

At issue is the wording of a state law which, at the time, stated that inmates cannot legally consent to sex with someone who is employed by the facility where they are being held. While the statute specifically mentions correctional officers and probation parole officers, it says nothing about sheriff’s officers or other law enforcement officials.

Blanchette, now 38, and formerly of Franklin, was serving a 10- to 20-year prison sentence when the Supreme Court issued its ruling. Afterward, Blanchette asked that the Belknap County charges be dismissed because the prosecution could not prove that he had “authority over the victim by virtue of employment at the jail where the victim is incarcerated” and that the institution directed Blanchette’s actions.

One of the charges that O’Neill dismissed alleged that Blanchette raped a female inmate whom he was transporting to a dental appointment. Three other charges allege that Blanchette enabled a male inmate to have intercourse with the female inmate during the transport. The remaining charge alleges Blanchette arranged a rendezvous so a man could have sex with a female inmate who was being transported.

All of the alleged assaults occurred in 2013, according to the indictments.