Coos County Superior Court Justice Peter Bornstein has denied three bail hearing requests for the man accused of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in Randolph two years ago, and now the New Hampshire Supreme Court is being asked to order a hearing that would decide on the disputed facts in the case to help determine whether his release would be appropriate..
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 25, is facing charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide in the June 21, 2019, deaths of seven motorcyclists associated with the Jarheads Motorcycle Club. He has been held without bail since his arrest and, in arguments before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, his lawyer, Christopher M. Johnson, said a judge should consider evidence that questions whether the trailer towed by Zhukovskyy’s truck crossed the center line.
Scott Chase of the Department of Justice focused on Zhukovskyy’s history of drug use and reckless driving, telling the justices that “The first thing he does [after the crash] when he gets home is use the rest of his heroin.” Chase argued, “Out from under the thumb of the Department of Corrections, he will make choices that are dangerous to himself or others.”
Justice Barbara Hantz Marconi responded, “People don’t change during 24 months’ pretrial [confinement]?”
Justice Patrick Donovan, on other hand, noting that Zhukovskyy had admitted that he had taken a mixture of fentanyl and cocaine before driving, and had been driving after a recent impaired driving citation, said, “Isn’t that enough [to continue holding him without bail]?”
Pitching For Business: No Big Deal?
New Hampshire Insurance Commissioner Chris Nicolopoulos believes it was entirely appropriate for Deputy Commissioner David J. (D.J.) Bettencourt to issue a public appeal on Twitter asking people to purchase Schilling beer to support the company after a “terrible” fire at its Littleton brewery. (It was actually a roof fire that was quickly extinguished and had only a minor effect on operations.)
“Deputy Commissioner Bettencourt was expressing his personal support for a small businesses [sic] that experienced an unfortunate situation. … [T]here was nothing improper about his tweet,” Nicolopoulos told me through his consumer outreach coordinator, Tiffany Fuller.
I questioned the tweet because of the likelihood that Schilling Beer would be filing an insurance claim and, as a commissioner overseeing insurance companies, it might constitute a conflict. The fact that Schillings’ chief executive officer, Jeff Cozzens, has made political contributions — albeit relatively small sums, such as $400 to Friends of Chris Sununu — also raised questions, since Nicolopoulous and Bettencourt are both close political allies of the governor. On the other hand, an earlier tweet had indicated that Bettencourt was close friends with the Schilling team.
Anguish Lingers
Michael Mortensen wrote another excellent followup story on the murder of Wilfred Guzman Sr. two years ago, this time speaking with the victim’s son, Wilfred Guzman Jr. We previously remarked on his story based on an interview with Natashia Guzman, the victim’s daughter.
In addition to hearing from the son on the circumstances leading up to the discovery of his father’s body, the story provides a tantalizing hint of a possible motive: The man accused of killing Wilfred Guzman Sr., Hassan Sapry, may have wanted to marry Natashia, whom he had known since they were both in middle school. Did Natashia’s father raise an objection to the marriage?
Apart from such speculation, the extremely well-written story conveys the anguish the family has experienced since the murder and the difficulty they have experienced in learning more from the Attorney General’s Office.
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