Trial for grandmother accused in grandson's 2019 death further delayed

LACONIA — The trial of Sherry Connor, who stands accused of causing the death of her grandson and abusing other family members in her care, is further delayed.

During a conference Wednesday morning in Belknap County Superior Court, Justice Mark Attorri set another status conference for 9 a.m. on Monday, March 23, after Belknap County Attorney Keith Cormier and attorney Mark Sisti, of Sisti Law Offices, who is defending Connor, agreed to delay setting a trial date.

Sisti told Attorri he’s waiting for information from a defense expert witness, and he will likely seek to convert the March 23 status conference to a bail hearing. Connor is currently in jail awaiting trial on 13 charges, including manslaughter and negligent homicide, for allegedly causing the death of her 5-year-old grandson Dennis “Boo” Vaughan Jr. on Christmas Eve 2019.

“Sherry and I are waiting for one more very important piece of information” from their expert, which would help with the motion for bail, Sisti told Attorri during the brief conference on Wednesday morning. He asked for a delay of 30 days. “Perhaps at that point, get a real, hard trial date, for sure.” 

The trial in State of New Hampshire v Sherry Connor has been delayed multiple times, most recently at the start of the year, when jury selection was scheduled to begin on Feb. 9, but was instead delayed. Jury selection had previously been scheduled for August 2025. Now, it appears the trial date won’t be until the summer — Attorri and a court clerk were discussing potential dates in June on Wednesday morning.

“It seems to me it would make sense to get it on the trial calendar,” Attorri said on Wednesday. But June dates did not work for all parties, as Sisti is expected in court on another matter on June 15, and Attorri, who is also the presiding Superior Court justice in Carroll County, had a conflict of his own. 

They settled on touching base on March 23.

“You got that, Sherry?” Sisti asked his client. He and Connor appeared in court Wednesday via videoconference.  

“I do, thank you,” Connor replied.

Vaughan Jr. was found unresponsive in Connor’s then-home on Blueberry Lane on Dec. 24, 2019. Connor also faces charges of witness tampering. Cormier said Wednesday he would expect the trial to take about two weeks. 

The child’s death shocked Laconians, but was followed by an apparent lack of prosecution, though the state Attorney General’s Office declared Vaughan Jr.’s death to be a homicide, based upon the results of an autopsy which indicated he suffered head and neck trauma. Connor wasn’t charged until August 2024, after the AG’s Office handed the case to Belknap County in June of that year.

In August 2024, Col. Mark Hall of New Hampshire State Police, Laconia Police Chief Matt Canfield and Cormier said Connor had been indicted on multiple charges in connection with the death of a juvenile in Laconia, in December 2019. 

Prosecutors asked Attorri to see her held in jail pending trial. Defense attorneys appealed his decision to hold Connor ahead of trial to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The high court affirmed Attorri’s order.