State v. Fortier

Summary

The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed Roger A. Fortier’s convictions for aggravated felonious sexual assault involving two minor victims. The court held that the pattern-of-sexual-assault statute did not require jury unanimity as to the particular predicate acts, that the convictions did not violate double jeopardy, and that sufficient evidence supported findings that Fortier used his position as a priest to coerce the victims.

Holdings

1. A conviction under RSA 632-A:2, III requires jury unanimity that the defendant engaged in the statutory pattern of sexual assault, but does not require unanimity as to each particular predicate assault comprising the pattern, provided the jury unanimously finds that the requisite number of assaults occurred within the statutory period.
2. The defendant was not subjected to multiple punishments for the same offense because the jury was instructed not to use any individual assaults charged in the felonious-sexual-assault indictments to establish the pattern offenses, and the defendant identified no inadequacy in that instruction.
3. The evidence was sufficient for a rational jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Fortier occupied a position of authority over the victims and used that authority to coerce them to submit to sexual assaults under RSA 632-A:2, I(k).

Questions Presented

1. Whether the pattern aggravated-felonious-sexual-assault indictments violated the defendant's right to a unanimous jury verdict by failing to identify the particular predicate assaults comprising the pattern.
2. Whether the pattern indictments and the individual felonious-sexual-assault indictments subjected the defendant to multiple punishments for the same offense in violation of the New Hampshire Constitution's double-jeopardy protection.
3. Whether sufficient evidence established that Fortier was in a position of authority over the victims and used that authority to coerce them to submit to sexual penetration under RSA 632-A:2, I(k).

Disposition

affirmed