“Liars are always ready to take oaths.” —Vittorio Alfieri
On Wednesday, September 21, The New Hampshire Supreme Court heard from Kristin Ruggiero. Kristin seeks to overturn her convictions arguing that the court should have excluded a photo of her cell phone number, and an intercepted telephone conversation that served as the evidence that brought her to her current demise.
Kristin Ruggiero was sent to Jail in May of 2010, convicted of twelve counts consisting of lying and falsifying physical evidence. Kristin had tried to do what many before her have done and gotten away with: Using the court system to exact a personal vendetta against her ex-husband Jeffrey Ruggiero.
In oral arguments before the Court, Attorney Mark L. Sisti argued that the evidence used to convict Kristin should have been thrown out because it was disqualified under N.H. RSA 570-A:6 because in New Hampshire, her consent was not obtained by the parties in South Carolina to make the intercept. New Hampshire commonly referred to as a, “two party” state, requires consent of all parties before any recording may be made, while South Carolina does not. Sisti concedes that, while no crime may have been committed by the recording because the interception took place in South Carolina, A New Hampshire resident still has the expectation of privacy under the statute, and the evidence should have been excluded. Sisti essentially argues for an absolute long-arm immunity without consideration to laws of extra-territorial consequence. (Listen to the arguments HERE).
Personally, I think Kristin loses. First, On March 19, 2008 when Kristin made the phone calls, She was actually a California resident, not a New Hampshire resident at the time; Second, It was later found that the phone call placed originated in Tennessee, not New Hampshire…And, was intercepted in South Carolina; Third, there was no fraud, subterfuge or express purpose to get around the New Hampshire statutory restrictions, as the parties who received the call, Jeff and Jeanne Ruggiero resided in South Carolina. Fourth, New Hampshire statute controls and governs those activities in New Hampshire and not in South Carolina. For example, If Police officials left New Hampshire for the express purpose of intercepting a communication because the destination had laws that differ from New Hampshire, that would be grounds for exclusion under the statute. Finally, the only reason the intercept is inadmissible is if it is specifically in violation of New Hampshire law. At the time, Kristin placed the call in Tennessee, and Jeff and Jeanne Ruggiero intercepted it in South Carolina, there existed no jurisdictional connection to New Hampshire. The crime Kristin was charged with came after the recording by Jeff and Jeanne Ruggiero in South Carolina when Kristin moved back to New Hampshire in May.
Listening to Mr. Sisti present the case was tough…His argument was not coherent, he sounded ill-prepared, and his argument was narrow. If one is forced to listen to the audio several times to get the gist of the issue, perhaps counsel might consider honing his presentation skills.
This case is far from over. Kristin Ruggiero sits in jail convicted of her crimes…currently facing a trial on twenty-one new indictments stemming from her first trial. She was convicted for more crimes in Barre Massachusetts back in May; her mother has been indicted in connection with this case; her boyfriend Brendan Bisbee also faces indictments; her ex-brother-in-law faces perjury charges; He divorce lawyer Linda Theroux faces disciplinary action for altering documents; and finally, she has had her day before the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
Kristin Ruggiero is a dangerous person who leaves nothing but an endless parade of human debris in her wake. No sentence received is long enough for her. It is of no comfort that her minimum sentence date is November 1, 2013. Her Mandatory Parole Date is July 13, 2014. And should she serve her maximum sentence, she would be released on July 10, 2021. With those dates on the books, one can only take comfort in the possibility that she will be convicted on some or all of her current twenty-one indictments garnering more time. Even then, it somehow doesn’t seem like enough.
