NEWPORT — A 58-year-old Newport man has been released on a $10,000 unsecured appearance bond after an evidence hearing Monday on charges that he shot a neighbor during an altercation over a shared driveway.
Oliver Renehan pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of first-degree assault and first-degree attempted assault with a deadly weapon involving the shooting Wednesday evening of Kevin Nottage III, 24, who was hit in the leg. But Renehan remained in custody until Monday’s hearing.
Sullivan Superior Court Judge Brian Tucker ordered Renehan released on the appearance bond and an electronic monitoring bracelet after hearing evidence from the state, which included taped police interviews with people who were present at the time.
The two sides in the altercation give competing versions of just what happened that evening.
At the end of the three-hour hearing, Tucker called Renehan’s alleged conduct “situational,” given the long-standing dispute about the property line boundary between his residence at 214 S. Main St. and the neighbors at 220 S. Main St., and said there were conditions he could put in place to protect both Renehan and the public.
“The conduct is obviously dangerous,” Tucker said. “But I think in this case there are circumstances or conditions that could be applied to mitigate that dangerousness.”
Returning to his home could put him “at risk,” the judge said, so Renehan and his fiancee, Paula Cain, 57, who was allegedly being beaten by neighbor Valerie Ellsey at the time of the shooting, will reside with friends in Grantham pending a trial.
Renehan’s attorney, Tony Hutchins, said Renehan has a “pretty good self-defense case” and that the details of that will be fleshed out at a later date.
Hutchins, in arguing to Tucker about why Renehan should be released, pointed out what he called inconsistencies in the statements given to police by Nottage and Ellsey, who is Nottage’s aunt.
For example, Hutchins said, Nottage told police Cain had a gun in her right pocket when she approached Ellsey in the driveway, while Ellsey told police Cain had a gun in her left hand, according to a police affidavit. That detail could prove pivotal; Ellsey told police that she punched Cain in self-defense.
Cain said she had the firearm in her pocket and that it fell out, the affidavit states.
Renehan came upon a scene where his fiancee was being “pummeled” and he reacted — firing two shots from a .45-caliber pistol — to end the attack, Hutchins alleged.
However, Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway told the judge that Nottage wasn’t presenting a threat to Renehan at the time he fired the shots, one of which struck the house at 220 S. Main St. and the other of which struck Nottage’s leg.
There was “no imminent danger to himself … or to another,” Hathaway said prior to Tucker’s ruling.
The situation started shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday when Cain returned home and hit a plastic toy boat that belonged to one of the children at 220 S. Main St., the affidavit states. According to Ellsey’s statements to the police, she went to move the boat back into position, when Cain approached her with a firearm in her hand, the affidavit states.
Ellsey told officers that she wasn’t sure of Cain’s intentions, so she punched Cain and the two scuffled on the ground, the affidavit states.
Ellsey told police at that point Renehan emerged and fired a warning shot before shooting Nottage. She also alleges that Renehan pointed the gun at her head. (Hathaway on Thursday said he believed the first shot hit Nottage.)
According to the recording prosecutors played in court, Ellsey’s son, Jeremy Dipesa, told police he witnessed Renehan point the gun at Ellsey.
Renehan told police he was inside his residence when he heard arguing and came out to find Ellsey hitting Cain.
He alleges that he went to separate the women, when Nottage pushed him and stood on Cain, which ultimately led him to fire his gun, according to the affidavit.
Renehan, a Dartmouth College custodian, has no prior criminal record, according to court records.
A condition of his release is that he maintain employment; Hutchins said in court he will resume work at Dartmouth. Renehan also can’t possess firearms.
Nottage told police in an interview that he is a convicted felon who recently served five years in prison. His crimes include eluding the police, he said. He hadn’t been living in the South Main Street home for long.
Several of Renehan’s family, friends and coworkers were in the gallery on Monday, including Cain, whose face was black and blue on the entire right side. They declined to comment.
Nottage still has the bullet lodged in his leg, said New Hampshire State Police Detective Sgt. Michael McLaughlin, who took the stand and testified for the state on Monday.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Nottage has been released from the hospital.
Police and prosecutors have said that the investigation is not over and that further charges are possible.
Wednesday’s incident was at least the fifth shooting event in Newport since December.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.