Judge focuses on treatment element of sentence in drug case

LACONIA — After rejecting a lighter plea deal, Superior Court Justice James D. O’Neill III sentenced a local transient to 21 months in confinement that includes intensive drug counseling.

Richard J. Brue Jr., 37, pleaded guilty in Belknap County Superior Court to felony criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and possession of methamphetamine.

O’Neill zeroed in on Brue’s participation in the Belknap County Corrections facility’s CORE program which includes treatment counseling for inmates with a history of substance abuse. County Attorney Andrew Livernois assured the judge that Brue would be participating in the full drug counseling component of CORE.

O’Neill rejected a negotiated plea in February that called for a 12-month sentence.

On Thursday he was sentenced to 12 months on the criminal threatening charge followed by a nine-month sentence on the drug possession charge. Under the terms of the sentence Brue will be given credit for the 243 days he has already spent in pre-trial confinement. In addition he will also be on probation for one year after his release.

After the sentencing hearing Livernois explained that with the pre-trial and good-behavior credits Brue now faces just under seven additional months, at a minimum, in the House of Correction.

As part of the plea agreement the prosecution dropped — or nol prossed — two other drug possession charges which Livernois said involved a “small quantity of drugs.”

In arguing on behalf for the plea agreement Livernois said the prosecution took into account “issues involving questions of (Brue’s) competency. Brue’s attorney, Amy Ashworth, said that her client reads at a third-grade level and since he has been jailed he has been getting tutoring to improve his reading and writing ability.

Livernois told the court that Brue has a record of 18 prior misdemeanor charges, seven of which resulted in House of Corrections sentences. In addition he has also served a one- to two-year sentence in State Prison.

In stressing the need for intensive drug counseling O’Neill said that Brue had shown a history of using fentanyl and other “pretty powerful ... top-of-the-ladder” drugs.