Jury selection in Sapry trial will start as scheduled, despite competency, security concerns

LACONIA — Despite concerns regarding Hassan Sapry's competency raised in court a week ago, jury selection for his trial are moving forward without delay.

Sapry, 27, is accused in the 2019 killing of Wilfred Guzman Sr., age 57 when he died. The case went to trial in 2022, before being halted in August of that year by Belknap Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Leonard, who declared a mistrial. Reports from 2022 indicate Leonard ordered a competency evaluation. 

Sapry’s second trial is scheduled following jury selection, which will begin on Monday, Aug. 11. 

At the final pre-trial hearing on July 24, defense attorney Mark Sisti — who is representing Sapry — told the court that despite two evaluators having determined Sapry is competent to participate in his own defense, Sisti’s opinion is Sapry is in the worst shape he’d seen him in since the first trial, nearly three years ago. 

Sisti asked Leonard to order a third, independent competency evaluation, reporting medical records he’d requested from the New Hampshire Department of Corrections two months earlier had only arrived in his office two days before the hearing. Leonard instructed Sisti to file a motion, with accompanying documentation, in the court. 

Court records show Sisti filed the motion and its documents on July 25 — and the state filed their objection and related exhibits on July 28. The motions are sealed from public view. Leonard issued a denial to the motion on July 30. 

“The answer is yes,” a spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Justice wrote on Thursday, in response to an inquiry regarding whether the case is anticipated to move forward according to the known timeline. 

Sisti on Thursday confirmed the date for jury selection is expected to remain in place. When asked if he and prosecuting attorneys had come to an agreement regarding acceptable precautionary safety measures for trial, Sisti said they had not. 

“Competency, in its very nature, is day to day,” Sisti said.

And on the day of final pre-trial, by his estimation, Sapry was certainly not competent. Sapry did not appear in the courtroom on July 24, but was present at Belknap County Superior Court. 

Sapry’s second trial was originally scheduled for April of this year, but was delayed after a closed status conference in January due to unspecified complications. Court records show a motion to immediately transfer Sapry to the care of New Hampshire Hospital in Concord was filed on Jan. 14. 

Last week, during the final pre-trial hearing, Sisti told the court that Sapry, in the care of the Department of Corrections, had been segregated to an infirmary for the previous month, out of fear he could harm others, and expressed concerns regarding the safety of himself and others, were Sapry to stand trial. 

Sapry is charged with nine offenses, including first- and second-degree murder, falsifying evidence, theft, credit card fraud and criminal trespassing. 

“He is not going to get a fair trial because of himself,” Sisti said during the July 24 hearing. “He’s a sick human being.”