Man charged with attempted murder seeks to have indictment dismissed

LACONIA — A Barnstead man accused of attempted murder is asking a judge to dismiss that charge, claiming prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to support the allegation.

Marcos Pagan, 59, of Old Rochester Road, is awaiting trial on a charge of attempted second-degree murder stemming from a shooting in April 2020 in Alton. Pagan is also facing charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, in connection with the same incident.

In a motion filed in Belknap Superior Court, Pagan’s attorney Mark Sisti asks the court to toss out the attempted murder indictment because the prosecution is unable to prove that the victim was struck by bullets several times as stated in the indictment.

At a hearing on Sept. 17, Belknap County Attorney Andrew Livernois sought to amend the indictment, which reads the victim was struck several times, to read instead he was struck “one or more times,” according to court documents.

Superior Court Judge James D. O’Neill III, however, denied that motion.

Sisti argues that the gist of the attempted murder indictment is that the victim was hit by multiple bullets fired by his client which he argues the prosecution cannot prove.

A court hearing on the motion to dismiss the indictment has been scheduled for next Wednesday, according to court records.

In his counter argument filed with the court, Livernois states the number of times the victim was struck is not critical to making the case that Pagan intended to kill the victim.

“In this case ... the defendant tried to kill the victim by shooting at him. Firing multiple rounds directly into the side of the victim’s vehicle while in close proximity, aiming directly at the victim, would be more than sufficient that he had the purpose of committing murder,” Livernois wrote.

He stated that Pagan, who has been held in the Belknap County Jail since April 28, 2020, fired at least seven bullets at the victim’s vehicle and that the victim received “five separate bullet wounds in his body.”

At the time of the incident investigators said it appeared the incident began as a domestic dispute between the victim and members of Pagan’s family that allegedly escalated into an argument outside the Pagan residence. The victim drove away from the premises. But a short time later Pagan got into his vehicle and soon afterward caught up with the victim’s vehicle as it was driving through Alton.