Pelham News : court

Standoff defendant wants charges thrown out

Salem Editor — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:02:00 GMT

A Pelham man who engaged in a standoff with a police SWAT team at his home in October wants a judge to dismiss two charges filed against him: reckless conduct and resisting arrest.

George W. LaBonte Sr., 69, surrendered to police after keeping them at bay at his 4 Jones Road residence for about five-and-a-half hours. Now, his lawyer is arguing that two charges he’s facing should be thrown out.

LaBonte was arrested for reckless conduct on Sept. 30. Police charged him with recklessly discharging a rifle toward a house less than 300 feet away, which placed residents in danger of serious bodily injury, on Sept. 14.

LaBonte’s lawyer, Benjamin L. Falkner, argues in documents filed in Salem District Court that a Pelham police report lacks probable cause that a projectile fired from LaBonte’s gun could have reached the residence allegedly endangered.

In addition, the law that actually applies to LaBonte’s alleged misconduct, not the law he’s accused of breaking, is only a violation rather than a crime, Falkner claims.

That law forbids the discharge of a firearm within 300 feet of a home without permission of its occupants or from the owner of the land where the gun was fired.

“As the State will be unable, as a matter of law, to prove that LaBonte lacked his own permission, no violation of (the law) can have occurred,” Falkner wrote.

On Sept. 14, officers Matthew Keenliside and Theresa Ferrante responded to Jones Road for a report of shots fired close to houses.

Sherburne Road resident Susan Mossey told Keenliside that she heard a gunshot and she and her husband were having an ongoing dispute with LaBonte.

LaBonte had recently threatened, while patting the handle of his revolver, to shoot their dog if it came near him, Mossey told police.

At LaBonte’s home, his wife, Phyllipa LaBonte, told Keenliside and Ferrante that her husband shot at a raccoon a few minutes earlier.

She indicated that LaBonte fired directly toward a house a short distance away, according to Keenliside’s report.

“It appeared possible that a stray round could have hit the house west of the LaBontes,” Keenliside wrote.

When police tried to talk with George LaBonte, Keenliside’s report says, LaBonte swore at the officers, and told them: “I shot the gun, so what? I was in my yard.”

“The narrative portion of the police report fails to demonstrate probable cause that LaBonte’s conduct was reckless, as the police report fails to establish adequately that the weapon used was, in fact, a rifle, and where the report fails to establish that a projectile allegedly fired from the weapon would or could reach the residence allegedly endangered,” Falkner wrote.

On Oct. 1, the day of the standoff and the day after he was arrested on the reckless conduct charge, LaBonte allegedly assaulted his wife by striking her in the chest with a roll of toilet paper.

When police arrived at their house, Phyllipa LaBonte told two officers of the alleged assault and that her husband blamed her for his arrest.

LaBonte was asked by police to come out of his home but continually refused to do so. He was told repeatedly that he was under arrest but refused to surrender to police, according to a police affidavit.

Falkner wants the resisting arrest charge against his client dismissed. He contends, through court documents, that the affidavit does not describe any action by LaBonte which physically interfered with his arrest.

Falkner cited that according to a police log, LaBonte told police they would have to get a warrant to arrest him.

“The only conduct for which the State seeks to penalize LaBonte is that he remained in his home,” Falkner wrote. “In essence, the State seeks to criminalize LaBonte’s refusal to consent to a warrantless arrest in his home.”

Pelham police are going to fight Falkner’s motions to have the charges thrown out.

“We’re filing objections to those and will argue why they shouldn’t be dismissed,” said Lt. Gary Fisher.

The Oct. 1 standoff was not the first time a police SWAT team was called to LaBonte’s home.

According to a police report, SWAT team members responded to LaBonte’s home in February 2004, after he made suicidal comments to a counselor on the telephone while cleaning a firearm.

When the counselor told LaBonte that police would be coming to check on his well-being, he replied that he was armed and police should be ready for a fight, the report says. That incident ended peacefully, too.

Standoff defendant faces December trial

Salem Editor — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:03:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

A Pelham man who engaged in a five-and-a-half hour standoff with police when he refused to leave his home is scheduled to go on trial in December.

George W. Labonte Sr., 68, of 4 Jones Road, faces misdemeanor charges of domestic simple assault and resisting arrest.

His lawyer, Benjamin Faulkner, has asked Salem District Court to schedule the trial on Dec. 18. Labonte will also have a probable cause hearing on a felony charge of reckless conduct that day.

Pelham police officers were called to Labonte’s house around 11 a.m. on Oct. 1 and were met by his wife, Phyllipa, who claimed she was assaulted by him during an argument.

Labonte refused to come out of his house to speak with the officers and retreated further into his home, according to police.

Eventually, the Southern New Hampshire Regional Special Operations Unit, a police SWAT team, was called in. After several hours of negotiations, Labonte surrendered peacefully around 4:30 p.m.
The day before the standoff, Labonte was arrested by Pelham police on a reckless conduct charge.

He allegedly fired a rifle toward a house less than 300 feet away on Sept. 14.

According to an affidavit, Phyllipa Labonte told police that her husband fired a gun at a raccoon and showed an officer the direction he fired the gun. A family on Sherburne Road told police that Labonte previously had tried to intimidate them by brandishing firearms and threatened to shoot their dog, according to the affidavit.

The next day, before the standoff, Labonte was upset about his arrest and blamed his wife, according to another affidavit. He told her to leave, and as she was packing her belongings, he continued to argue with her and threw a roll of toilet paper at her, striking her in the chest, according to police.

Labonte was originally scheduled to go on trial and have his probable cause hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 23. But Faulkner asked that both be postponed because he had only been hired within the past week and had not had time to prepare.

Faulkner is also asking prosecutors to turn over evidence to him.

Police standoff ends in arrest of man, 68 – Pelham man was involved in similar incident in 2004

Salem Editor — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:34:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

A five-and-a-half hour standoff ended peacefully after a Pelham man who had refused to come out of his house surrendered to police.

George Labonte Sr., 68, of 4 Jones Road, was charged with domestic simple assault and resisting arrest after he finally surrendered to members of a police SWAT team around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 1.

Pelham police officers were called to the house around 11 a.m. and were met by a woman living there who claimed she was assaulted by LaBonte during an argument.

LaBonte refused the officers’ request to come out of the house to speak with them about the incident and retreated further into his house, according to police.

LaBonte was no stranger to police. He had been arrested the day before on a charge of reckless conduct with a firearm. And in February 2004, police had engaged in a standoff with him that ended peacefully. It had begun with a well-being check that escalated to the standoff, according to Pelham Police Chief Joseph Roark.

Due to those past experiences with LaBonte, and believing he may have firearms, Pelham officers and New Hampshire State Police Troopers set up a perimeter around his residence to contain the area.

After Pelham officers and LaBonte’s relatives and friends were unsuccessful in getting him to come out of his house, the Southern New Hampshire Regional Special Operations Unit, a police SWAT team, was called in.

SOU tactical officers took charge of the perimeter while negotiators began to talk with LaBonte over his home phone and cellular phone. Salem Police Lt. Fred Rheault served as lead negotiator.

After several hours of negotiations, LaBonte surrendered. Police complied with his request that he not be handcuffed when he surrendered, Roark said.

The woman, whom Roark did not identify, was at the police station during the standoff.

“She was interviewed,” said Roark, adding that investigators were looking for helpful background information. “We obviously gathered intelligence about the interior of the house, any issues going on with Mr. LaBonte.”

Roark said the previous standoff and arrest and the information from the victim led to the level of force that police brought to the house.

The atmosphere, he said, was intense.

“It was daunting to think we might have to enter that house,” Roark said. “You are clearly putting officers in harm’s way.”

Following LaBonte’s arrest, police seized a handgun, two rifles and a pair of shotguns from his home.
LaBonte was arraigned in Salem District Court the next day.

Four arrested for vandalism

Salem Editor — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:07:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

Four young men have been arrested and charged with a rash of vandalism in Pelham that caused at least $25,000 in damage.

The arrests followed an investigation by several agencies in response to the suspicious fires of two sheds, the theft of an all-terrain vehicle, thefts from cars and several acts of criminal mischief.

All four suspects are from Pelham.

Matthew Melanson, 17, is charged with two counts of burglary, four counts of conspiracy to commit arson, two counts of reckless conduct, and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief.

Alexander Clement, 17, is charged with theft of a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property and hindering apprehension or prosecution.

John Paquin, 18, is charged with receiving stolen property and hindering apprehension or prosecution.

All three were released on personal recognizance bail and will be arraigned in Salem District Court on Sept. 24.

A 16-year-old boy is charged with four counts of arson, two counts of burglary, two counts of reckless conduct, criminal mischief and theft of a motor vehicle.

He has been released and will be arraigned in Salem Family Court.

Around 3 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 26, fire and police workers responded to a storage shed on fire at 39 Dutton Road. About 15 minutes later, while they were trying to prevent a house near the shed from catching fire, another shed fire was reported a few blocks away on Island Pond Road.

Family members were sleeping at both homes, but were awakened by police and neighbors and evacuated from the houses.

The size and intensity of the fires damaged both homes. At the Dutton Road residence, the house’s exterior singed and siding melted.

The fires have been ruled arson.

“No one was hurt but it was very serious,” Fire Chief Michael Walker said during the investigation.

“People were asleep and the fires were impinging on their homes.”

Throughout the night, police received reports of 30 acts of criminal mischief, 10 thefts from motor vehicles, and the stolen ATV, which was later recovered by police. The contents of one mailbox was burned.

At another home, mail was scattered about.

The four suspects were arrested based on information gathered by the Pelham police and fire departments, the New Hampshire Fire Marshal’s Office, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Pelham Police Lt. Gary Fisher was reluctant to say how investigators were led to the four suspects, saying that it would come out during trials. He did disclose that some information was gained from a traffic stop that police made.

“As suspects were gathered up, they (investigators) were able to put together the persons who were arrested,” Fisher said.

No additional arrests are expected. “I think we got them all,” Fisher said.

Police are still waiting for some families to provide estimates of damage done at their homes, so Fisher expects the $25,000 total estimate to rise.

“If anything, it’s on the low end,” he said.

Special election – Voters to decide fate of revised Pelham teachers’ contract

Salem Editor — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:15:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

Pelham voters will go to the polls in October to approve or reject a revised teachers’ contract.

A Superior Court judge granted permission to the Pelham School District to hold a special election on Tuesday, Oct. 23.

“All parties are very excited by the decision and look forward to the special session,” School Superintendent Frank Bass said at Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua after a brief hearing.

When voters went to the polls in March, they rejected, in a 1,491 to 1,187 vote, a three-year contract between the district and the Pelham Education Association that among its provisions provided raises averaging 5 percent each year.

Following the defeat, representatives of the union and the school district hammered out a new contract. It is roughly $250,000 lower than the one voters rejected.

“It’s a significant decrease from the original agreement,” said Bruce Couture, chairman of Pelham School Board.

The revised agreement will be the subject of discussion and debate at a deliberative session on Sept. 25.

It calls for salary increases averaging 3.5 percent in 2007-08; 4 percent in 2008-09; and 4 percent in 2009-10.

Teachers would receive increases of $1,760 in the first year, $1,840 in the second year, and $1,920 in the third year.

Those figures are lower than the increases proposed in the contract turned down in March: $2,430 in 2007-08, $2,340 in 2008-09, and $2,455 in 2009-10.

Under the revised agreement, a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree will earn $32,100 in 2007-08.

Under the rejected contract, the salary in the same year would have been $32,770.

Like the rejected contract, the revised one calls for stipends for extracurricular positions – such as athletic coaches and club advisors – to increase 3.5 percent during the first year but remain steady during the following two years.

The revised contract, however, adds approximately nine new positions over the life of the contract.

The revised agreement retains a change in cost sharing for health insurance that was in the rejected contract: The school district will contribute 83 percent in the first year, 82 percent in the second year and 80 percent in the third year of the most expensive health care plan.

Those contributions are constant, regardless of which plan a teacher selects.

Currently, it is a 85/15 percent split.

The total cost of the contract that was turned down would have cost taxpayers $392,033 in 2007-08; $396,307 in 2008-09, and $413,038 in 2009-10.

The new version will cost $283,514 in 2007-08; $324,437 in 2008-09; and $340,600 in 2009-10.

Leading up to the March vote, some opponents of the contract argued the raises were too high and teachers should be contributing more toward their health insurance premiums.

A majority of the Budget committee opposed the contract. The group will review and take a position on the revised agreement.

Sue Harden, president of the teacher’s union, hopes that residents will approve it this fall. She has said that the community needs to retain and attract good teachers.

“We’ll probably mount a public campaign to get our message out,” she said. “It’s a lot of work and not a lot of time to do it.”