Advocates: NH murder appeal could weaken rape-shield law
The New Hampshire Supreme Court is considering whether to permit hearing the sexual history of a 19-year-old victim during her convicted murderer’s appeal, reports The Boston Globe.
Seth Mazzaglia was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2014.
Seth Mazzaglia was convicted of murdering Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott, a University of New Hampshire student from Westborough, in 2012. He was sentenced to life in prison two years later. During the trial, the judge ruled that her sexual history was protected.
However, the New Hampshire Supreme Court may allow the information during her murderer’s appeal, something that national advocates for sexual assault victims say could weaken the rape-shield law.
“The rape shield was put in place to make the whole system of criminal justice less traumatizing to victims, and this really undoes 40-plus years of rape-shield work,” Meg Garvin, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School who is co-counsel for the Marriotts, told the Globe.
Christopher M. Johnson, Mazzaglia’s lawyer, told the Globe, “It’s a fundamental values choice. Do we elevate fairness above privacy or privacy above fairness in the appellate process?”
Read the full story in the Globe.
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