Criminal charges against three New Hampshire hockey players were dismissed Thursday after the prosecuting attorney unsuccessfully attempted to reduce the charges after closing arguments.
New Hampshire District Court Judge Gerald Taube agreed with the defense that the law prohibited such a late reclassification of the charges against Jayme Filipowicz, Dan Enders and Corey-Joe Ficek. The original charge, of criminal trespassing against each of the three, is a misdemeanor under New Hampshire law.
“The law says if you’re going to amend a misdemeanor to a violation, you have to do it prior to arraignment,” defense attorney William Hurley was quoted in Foster’s Online. “[The prosecutor] tried to do it after both sides rested.”
The incident in question took place early in the morning of Dec. 16, 1998, when Filipowicz, Enders, Ficek and football player Jeff Tripp allegedly went to a residence in Durham, N.H., in search of Ryan Hurd of Concord. After an altercation, police were called. The three players turned themselves in to police Jan. 5.
