New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi will no longer take part in cases before the state's highest court, telling her colleagues on the bench that she will instead focus on administrative tasks until she reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 in February.
Hantz Marconi’s announcement on Friday is an unexpected reversal: In October, she briefly returned to the bench following her criminal conviction for trying to use her position to secure favorable treatment for her husband.
After pleading no contest to a single misdemeanor charge, Hantz Marconi’s law license was restored and, within days, she returned to the court, a move that appeared to have caught the New Hampshire Department of Justice off guard.
On Oct. 15, she sat for oral arguments alongside her colleagues — the first time she had heard a case since July 2024, when she was placed on administrative leave.
It isn’t clear what prompted Hantz Marconi, the longest tenured justice currently serving on the court, to now decide she could no longer participate in cases. In the letter, dated Nov. 14, she acknowledged the strain her legal problems have had on the judiciary in New Hampshire.
“I recognize that events of the past year have had an impact on the work of the Court, and I regret that disruption,” she wrote.
Hantz Marconi said she plans to now focus on administrative tasks until Feb. 12, when she ages off the court.
“I remain committed to assisting the Court in any way that promotes its continued effectiveness and integrity,” she wrote.
Hantz Marconi’s decision was first reported by NH Journal, a conservative news site. The court did not announce Hantz Marconi’s decision through a standard press release.
A not 'serious' crime
Hantz Marconi’s plea agreement in October ended a year-long criminal case that centered on a private conversation she had with then-Gov. Chris Sununu in his office last June. At the time, Hantz Marconi’s husband, Geno Marconi, the state’s longtime port director, was under investigation by the state attorney general’s office for allegedly sharing confidential records.
Prosecutors said Hantz Marconi tried to persuade Sununu to intervene on her husband’s behalf, an allegation she denied. Sununu himself later said he didn’t think Hantz Marconi crossed any lines by talking to him.
As part of her plea, Hantz Marconi didn’t admit guilt, but she didn’t dispute that the state had enough evidence to convict her. In the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed that her conduct did not constitute a "serious crime," though New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said she had breached a public trust.
Two days later, a specially convened panel of judges announced it was restoring Hantz Marconi’s ability to practice law in the state with no restrictions. The judges also noted that her conduct did not include “interference with the administration of justice, false swearing, misrepresentation, fraud, deceit, bribery, extortion, misappropriation, or theft.”
Formella later told reporters that he did not expect Hantz Marconi to return to the bench so soon.
Last April, before her suspension, Hantz Marconi began recusing herself from all cases involving the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, as prosecutors continued to investigate her husband.
Geno Marconi was accused of sharing boating and motor vehicle records in an act of retaliation against Pease Development Authority board member Neil Levesque, with whom he had an acrimonious relationship, and then deleting voicemails while under investigation.
Late last month, Marconi pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which will be suspended pending good behavior. He also paid a $2,000 fine and resigned from his position as director of the New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors.
