On today's date at approximately 1:00 P.M. members of the Middleton Police Department arrested:
Richard J. Penney (Age 38)
Transitional Housing
County Farm Road
Dover, NH
for the offenses of:
Kidnapping
Criminal Threatening with a Firearm
Theft of a Firearm X2
Armed Robbery
These offenses occurred in January of 2013 and ultimately were filed in the Strafford County Superior Court. A competency Hearing was held in the Superior Court and the court dismissed all the felony charges without prejudice.
The State received new information regarding the competency of Mr. Penney and with the consent and partnership of the County Attorney's Office, those charges were refiled before the court today.
Tom Velardi, the Strafford County Attorney made a compelling argument asking the court to hold Mr. Penney on $500,000 Cash Bail. Defense countered that Mr. Penney was under the supervision of the Strafford County Community Corrections Program and should be released on PR Bail. The judge ordered that Mr. Penney be held on $25,000.00 Cash Bail but will allow that to convert to a PR Bail if he is found suitable for supervision by the Strafford County Community Corrections Department.
The Strafford County Community Corrections is a division of the County which employs civilian unarmed employees to supervise candidates acceptable to the program. They have no police authority and do not do home visits of their clients. The program was formed as a cost savings program for the County for non-violent offenders. Since that time, it has been common practice to accept violent offenders. The Middleton Police has expressed our concerns for the protection of the Community to the Strafford County Commissioners on these matters. We strongly believe that violent offenders should not be released into the community and supervised by civilian unarmed employees with no law enforcement authority.
Mr. Penney was transported to the Strafford County Corrections Department in Dover, New Hampshire on the cash bail. We await notification on whether or not he is an acceptable candidate by the Community Corrections Program. If a release is granted, we will make the notifications to the community.
Also today, a trial was scheduled in the 7th Circuit Court on two charges of Stalking which alleged that Mr. Penney contacted his brother by phone when a Superior Court Order prohibited that contact. The Defense filed a motion to dismiss based on a 3JX Supreme Court ruling which basically states that a Defendant cannot violate a bail condition when he is incarcerated and prior to the bail taking effect. The Honorable Judge Susan Ashley granted that motion to dismiss. While we highly respect the court's ruling, we disagree that the facts in this case mirror the non binding decision of the Supreme Court. A decision to appeal the dismissal rests with the Office of the Strafford County Attorney and the Attorney General who handles Supreme Court Appeals.
Additional information will be released when we receive it.
A probable cause hearing has been set in the 7th Circuit Court Rochester on the new charges before the court in January.
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