By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – State Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi told the court Friday she will recuse herself from hearing and deliberating all appeals beginning Nov. 1 until mandatory retirement when she turns 70 on Feb. 12, 2026.
In a letter dated Friday, Nov. 14, Hantz Marconi told the court: “Dear Colleagues: I would like to officially notify the Court of my decision to curtail my participation in certain judicial functions in advance of my retirement, which will take effect upon my reaching the mandatory retirement age on Feb. 12, 2026.
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“As of November 1, 2025, I will no longer participate in case assignments, deliberations, or judicial decision-making. During the remainder of my tenure, I intend to focus on supporting the internal administrative matters and functions for the Court. I recognize that events of the past year have had an impact on the work of the Court, and I regret that disruption,” she said.
Once Justice Hantz Marconi attains the mandatory retirement age of 70 on Feb. 12, 2026, her annual pension will be 55% of her current salary of $201,903, which will be an annual figure of $111,046, according to a court spokesman.
She was sworn in by then-Gov. Christopher Sununu on August 8, 2017. She was placed on paid leave July 26, 2024.
“Despite the challenges, it has been the greatest honor of my professional life to serve as a Justice of this Court. I remain committed to assisting the Court in any way that promotes its continued effectiveness and integrity” Hantz Marconi wrote.
After pleading no contest Oct. 7 to meeting with then-Gov. Chris Sununu about an investigation into her husband then-Ports and Harbors Director Geno Marconi in June of 2024, she was found guilty of a misdemeanor, fined $1,200 and faced no jail time.
She was able to return to the bench Oct. 15 after being convicted of the misdemeanor because Attorney General John Formella in the plea bargain agreed it wasn’t a serious crime.
The court declined to say how many days Hantz Marconi sat on the bench since returning to work.
Her husband Geno Marconi, 74, of Stratham, pleaded guilty to knowingly using information from a department record for any use other than the use authorized by the Department of Safety by providing confidential motor vehicle records pertaining to Neil Levesque, vice chairman of the Pease Development to Bradley Cook, who was then-chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council on Oct. 31 and said he planned to retired.
Geno Marconi was fined $2,000 and sentenced to 30 days in the House of Corrections, suspended on good behavior on Oct. 31,
On Thursday, the last person charged in the case, Bradley Cook of Hampton, the former-Chair of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council, pleaded guilty plea to one count of Obstructing Government Administration (RSA 642:1), a class B misdemeanor, and was sentenced to a $1,200 fine.
“Bradley Cook was originally charged with other crimes for falsely testifying before the Rockingham County Grand Jury, where he denied that former-Division of Ports and Harbors Director Geno Marconi had provided him with confidential documents,” Formella said in a statement. “Bradley Cook’s plea and sentence were part of a cooperating-witness agreement with the State, whereby Bradley Cook had agreed to testify for the State at the trial of Geno Marconi.”