Plea deal ends prosecution of New Hampshire ports director and his state Supreme Court justice wife

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The longtime director of the New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor Friday in a case that also led to criminal charges against his wife, a state Supreme Court justice.

Under a plea deal, Geno Marconi was fined $2,000 for sharing confidential boating and motor vehicle records and was forced to resign from his job. His wife, Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, recently pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor after being accused of trying to interfere with the investigation into her husband.

“I recognize and take responsibility for my actions,” Geno Marconi said during his brief plea and sentencing hearing in Rockingham County Superior Court.

Marconi was accused of sharing confidential records in retaliation against a member of the Pease Development Authority, which maintains and develops the state’s ports and harbors. He was set to go on trial next week on four misdemeanor charges and two felonies, including witness tampering. Instead, he pleaded guilty to one count of violating driver privacy and was given a 30-day jail sentence, all of which was suspended.

Justice Hantz Marconi was accused of soliciting then-Gov. Chris Sununu to influence the attorney general’s investigation into her husband, telling him there was no merit to the allegations and that any investigation into her husband “needed to be wrapped up quickly because she was recused from important cases pending” before the court.

She was indicted on two felonies and five misdemeanors, but under a plea deal approved Oct. 7, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of criminal solicitation of misuse of position. She had been placed on leave in July 2024 and resumed her position after her plea.