Outside Lebanon District Court yesterday, cameras lined the sidewalk as authorities, just yards away, led a silent, handcuffed teenager from the backseat of a police cruiser to the back door of the courthouse.
Seventeen-year-old Robert Tulloch walked into court with his head up, flanked by two armed police officers, and quietly took his seat in front of the judge yesterday evening.
Dressed in the same sweater and jeans he wore at his Tuesday extradition hearing in Indiana, Tulloch glanced behind him briefly, solemnly acknowledging his parents Michael and Diane, who were seated on the bench behind him.
At the 6:00 p.m. hearing, the mood was somber, as Judge Albert J. Cirone, Jr., read the charges against Tulloch -- two counts of first-degree murder for the stabbing of Half and Susanne Zantop.
Cirone asked Tulloch if he understood the charges. Tulloch answered simply, "Yes, Your Honor."
Cirone then ordered Tulloch to be held at the Grafton County Jail without bail. According to Senior Attorney General Ann Rice, charges of first-degree murder in New Hampshire "carry the presumption of no bail."
In New Hampshire, the defendant does not enter a plea at the arraignment. A plea and a request for bail will come at a later hearing.
Tulloch was represented by Richard Guerriero and Caroline Smith, New Hampshire state public defenders.
Around 2:30 p.m. yesterday, Tulloch returned to New Hampshire on a FBI plane, accompanied back by authorities. He was held at the Hanover Police Department until the hearing.
James Parker, Tulloch's 16-year-old friend who police are also charging with first-degree murder as well, is still being held in Indiana awaiting an extradition hearing. On Tuesday, Parker postponed the hearing until Feb. 27.
After the hearing, which took less than 15 minutes, Tulloch was led out of the courtroom by police, followed by his parents shortly after.
As a police car left the courthouse to bring Tulloch to jail an unidentified man yelled, "We're here for you!" Tulloch replied, "Thank you. I really appreciate it."
Guerriero confirmed that Michael and Diane Tulloch, who showed little emotion during the hearing, were going to meet with their son.
In the hearing, Cirone told Tulloch that he could hire private lawyers if he wanted to. Later, Smith and Guerriero declined comment on whether their representation is temporary or permanent.
"We are the attorneys of record right now," Smith said.
After the hearing, Guerriero issued a brief statement, but took no questions from the media.
"We represent a terrified teenage boy who is trying to deal with very tragic circumstances," he said.
He directly addressed the media, saying, "Let the system work. Don't jump to conclusions."
Senior Assistant Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said after the hearing that the state's investigation is still ongoing and continued to decline comment on motive and details of the crime scene.
She said the state might have a witness testify at the probable cause hearing, which is scheduled for next Wednesday.
Tulloch will be remanded to the Grafton County Jail until the probable cause hearing.
Earlier yesterday, the court released a report including the affidavit for Tulloch's arrest warrant; however, much of the information was blacked out.
The information omitted from the report likely includes the results of the Feb. 15 interviews police conducted with Tulloch and Parker, details of the crime scene and evidence police took from the scene.
The court ordered the release of portions of the arrest and crime scene affidavits and a search warrant for the Zantop home, citing precedent set by a 1992 petition by the Keene Sentinel.
The report contained no new information relating to a possible motive for the murders and little about what happened at 115 Trescott Road in Etna on the afternoon of Jan. 27.
The New Hampshire Attorney General's office had said earlier this week that the Zantops were stabbed multiple times in the head and chest. The information released yesterday added that the two professors were also stabbed in the neck area.
The arrest warrant affidavit confirms that Parker and Tulloch were fingerprinted and interviewed by investigators on the night of Feb. 15 in the company of their family members.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Parker left his home in his family's 1987 Audi and drove to the Tulloch residence, just hours after being interviewed by police. From there, the two departed, leaving town for the last time as private citizens.
In the early morning hours of Feb. 16, John Parker followed his son to the Tulloch residence. Shortly thereafter, John Parker returned to his home, where he found a handwritten note from his son.
In the note, James Parker wrote that he had gone to visit Tulloch and asked that John Parker not notify the police, the arrest warrant affidavit said.
The affidavit concluded: "Based on the foregoing, there is probable cause to believe that Robert Tulloch has committed two counts of First Degree Murder in the deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop."
The report included another affidavit containing an account of the crime scene by Brad Sargent of the New Hampshire state police, which was filed at 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 28, the day after the murders.
Most of that affidavit was also omitted, but it did say that a detective interviewed Dartmouth professor Leo Spitzer on the night of the murders. Spitzer told the detective that the Zantops regularly used the "Dartmouth College-wide email system to send and receive messages."
Four media agencies, the Valley News, Associated Press, The Union Leader Corporation and WMUR-TV had petitioned the court to unseal search and arrest warrant affidavits.
Gregory Sullivan, attorney for the Union Leader, told the AP that materials still being with held inlcudes laboratory findings, potential e-mails that would link the professors to Tulloch and evidence that the boy's father may have turned over to authorities.
