Sunapee Man’s Indecency Case Moves to Trial

Newport — A plea agreement between the Sullivan County Attorney’s Office and the attorney for a former Sunapee man who appealed his conviction on seven misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and lewdness did not take place as scheduled on Monday

Thomas Mauzy, 44, demanded a jury trial last spring, immediately after a district court judge found him guilty and gave him a 12-month suspended sentence.

On Friday, the court scheduled the case for a Monday plea and sentencing hearing; however, at Monday’s court hearing, the plea agreement was dropped without explanation and the case instead was tentatively scheduled for trial, as Mauzy originally requested in May.

Assistant Sullivan County Attorney Justin Hersh said after the hearing he could not talk about the specifics of the plea agreement or why it did not happen. Hersh only said Mauzy’s trial will proceed on the seven counts of indecent exposure and lewdness. The attorney also said two other complaints were filed against Mauzy earlier in the day, but declined to offer specifics on those complaints.

Mauzy, a former guidance counselor at Newport High School, was charged last January with intentionally standing naked several mornings in front of his apartment’s bedroom window, exposing himself to a neighbor as she left for work in the morning.

The incidents took place over a nearly two-week period in December 2015 at Mauzy’s apartment building on Maple Street.

Mauzy moved out from the complex not long after the investigation began.

When the court hearing began on Monday, Hersh and Mauzy’s attorney, Richard Guerriero Jr., of Keene, N.H., approached Judge Brian Tucker and spoke privately with him for several minutes.

Guerriero then spoke quietly to Mauzy, who was seated at a table in the courtroom. Mauzy could be seen shaking his head “no” and putting his head in his hands a few times.

The court was then recessed for more than an hour while Guerriero met with his client.

The attorneys and Tucker then discussed the pretrial proceedings, including a deadline for a witness list, a date for jury selection and a trip to the location of the alleged incidents.

It also was agreed that Jan. 23 was the deadline for another plea agreement to be reached.

A trial date was tentatively set for Feb. 7; Hersh, however, said that date poses a scheduling conflict and is likely to be moved.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.