New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald is ordering a review of a domestic violence case that ended in the fatal shooting of a 25-year old Berlin resident.
Marisol Fuentes was shot and killed inside of La Casita restaurant on July 6 by her husband, Michael Gleason, Jr. According to an autopsy, Gleason, Jr. then killed himself in the restaurant’s bathroom.
At the time of the murder, 50-year-old Gleason, Jr. was facing criminal charges for an assault more than two months prior in which he allegedly refused to let Fuentes leave their home, and physically and sexually assaulted her.
According to court records, Fuentes was granted an emergency order of protection from a Berlin judge on April 28.
At a separate hearing in his criminal case overseen by Magistrate Judge Stephanie Johnson, Gleason, Jr. was released on $5,000 bail, and was ordered to relinquish firearms in his possession.
It isn’t clear where he obtained the gun used to kill Fuentes.
On Monday, MacDonald appointed Supreme Court Justice Melissa Countway and Circuit Court Administrative Judge Ellen Christo to review the case, as well as work with the state’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee.
Some advocates have raised concerns about why Gleason, Jr. was released following his April arrest, given what they say was the severity of the allegations. New Hampshire state Rep. Lori Kerzen, who represents Berlin, has called on the judicial magistrate who oversaw the case to step down from her position.
“I recognize the immense pressures and complexities that come with your role,” Kerzen said in a letter addressed to Johnson. “However, the gravity of this oversight cannot be ignored.”
The judicial system created three magistrate judge positions in 2024 as part of an ongoing bipartisan overhaul of the state’s bail system. The magistrates were tasked with setting bail in criminal cases, freeing up judges to handle other proceedings. Before her appointment to the seat, Johnson was a prosecutor and litigator.
Earlier this year, Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed a law that reverses portions of the bail overhaul system, including terminating the magistrate positions beginning in September.
Since her death, tributes have poured in for Fuentes, who was born in Jalisco, Mexico, according to her obituary. She is described as a “hardworking woman with an everlasting passion for life, a million-dollar smile that greeted you every time you crossed the threshold, and a warmth that brought the sun of Mexico to the cold winters of New England.”
The obituary notes that Fuentes lost “her life at the hands of misogyny and domestic violence.”
In 2022, the judicial branch released a sweeping review of how the courts process domestic violence cases, spurred by the shooting of a Hampton woman by an intimate partner, who then killed himself. In that case, a judge denied a permanent restraining order citing a lack of evidence.
That review noted, among other findings, that the volume of domestic violence cases outstripped the number of attorneys and advocates available to assist victims as they navigate the judicial system.
According to court paperwork, Fuentes was represented by an attorney during her request for an order of protection.
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