NEWPORT — Citing issues with witness cooperation, prosecutors on Monday dropped all charges against a Newport man accused of shooting his neighbor during a dispute in their shared driveway last year.

Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway made the decision the same day jury selection was scheduled to begin for Oliver Renehan, 59. He faced two counts of first-degree assault and one count of reckless conduct after the July incident in which prosecutors have said Renehan shot his neighbor, Kevin Nottage III, in the leg.

Renehan, who works as a Dartmouth College custodian and had no prior criminal record, according to court records, has argued that he’s protected under New Hampshire’s self-defense laws.

Hathaway said in an interview Monday that issues with one witness’ availability and lack of cooperation from other witnesses made it difficult to pursue the case further. He declined to identify the specific witnesses.

However, the move to drop the case comes just a month after news that Nottage likely wouldn’t be testifying at Renehan’s trial. In a motion filed in early January, Renehan’s attorney Cabot Teachout wrote that Nottage had moved to Florida and was not “available or willing” to attend the upcoming trial.

Teachout argued that the court should admit into evidence a digitally recorded interview that New Hampshire State Police conducted with Nottage shortly after the shooting, saying it would give credence to the self-defense argument.

But in a response filed last month, Hathaway argued that the interview is “clearly” a case of hearsay and that it shouldn’t be admitted into evidence for the trial. He argued at the time that there were plenty of other eyewitnesses who could be called to testify, according to the filing.

The state planned to call Nottage’s aunt, Valerie Ellsey, and Renehan’s fiancee, Paula Cain — both of whom were at the scene of the incident — to testify, according to a witness list submitted last month.

The shooting followed a longstanding dispute between the neighbors, which came to a head in an argument over toy boats in their shared driveway on July 24.

Ellsey and Cain got into an altercation in the driveway in front of Renehan’s home at 214 S. Main St., according to an affidavit written by three Newport Police patrol officers who responded to the scene.

Cain was armed with a gun, the affidavit said, but suffered extensive bruises to her face in the scuffle with Ellsey.

During the fight between the two women, Nottage confronted Renehan, who fired two shots, one of which went into Nottage’s house and one of which hit Nottage in the leg, according to the affidavit.

Renehan has claimed that he fired the shots to stop the fight between Ellsey and Cain. “Defense of others” is protected in certain cases under New Hampshire’s self-defense laws.

Messages for comment to Renehan, who has been out on bond since July, and his attorney were not returned Monday.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.