Hooksett police officer Jason Defina, the school resource officer who was reassigned last spring despite community objections, was fired by the Hooksett Police Commission on Sept. 8.

Defina, 35, a Marine Corps veteran who has been with the Police Department since 1999, said he plans a legal fight to get his job back.

“I will still be a cop,” Defina said. “There is no doubt in my mind that I will be back in Hooksett. I will be back with the Police Department and I deserve to be. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Defina, Police Chief Stephen Agrafiotis nor the three Police Commission members have said publicly why Defina was terminated.

On Sept. 10, Police Commission Chairman David Gagnon said Defina has the right to unseal his personnel file if he wants the details to come out.

“If Defina is the perfect angel that he wants to say he is, he can release his file. It’s that simple,” Gagnon said. “That’s the only way it can be done, through him.”

The commission voted 2-1 for Defina’s termination during a nonpublic meeting. Commissioners Gagnon and Henry Roy voted in favor of termination; Joanne McHugh dissented.

Gagnon says the board is legally unable to say the reason why Defina was let go.

“It’s unfortunate that we are obligated to stand behind non-disclosure because it is a personnel issue,” Gagnon said.

The commission’s lawyer, Jim Higgins, said a clause in the state’s Right to Know law prohibits the commission from releasing information on personnel without the person’s permission.

Defina’s lawyer, Bill Cahill, when reached Sept. 10, said he had not released the reason given for Defina’s termination because Defina had not received anything in writing from the Police Commission.

“I don’t have anything in writing. That’s why no one can say,” Cahill said. “Jay Defina has not received anything in writing.”

Defina says he’s following his lawyer’s orders for now.

“I have the right to make everything public if I want,” Defina said. “I have in the past, and that’s why I’m in the situation I’m in… It will all come out in the end. There are serious issues that have to be addressed.”

A few hours after he was fired, Defina implied that his termination was a result of suspensions in January for petty reasons and bad blood that has boiled between him and Agrafiotis since 2005, when Defina was one of 17 officers who signed a formal written complaint against the chief that resulted in the chief’s suspension.

Defina said McHugh, who became the newest-appointed Police Commission member over the summer, became emotional when the vote to fire him was taken. “She was very emotional. It was very sad,” he said.

McHugh said she could not comment on the situation.

Defina gained a large amount of community support last spring after Agrafiotis removed him as the Cawley Middle School’s student resource officer. Residents and students overflowed a Police Commission meeting in late July begging Agrafiotis for Defina’s return. Defina was reassigned to the midnight-to-8 a.m. patrol shift until his termination.

Agrafiotis said Defina’s reassignment was due to staffing issues.

“Jay had done an outstanding job as the SRO in the Hooksett schools,” former School Board Chairman Maura Ouellette said. “His termination has nothing to do with his competence as a police officer. In my opinion, it’s a direct result of the mismanagement of the Hooksett Police Department.”