Since accepting her position as the Senior Assistant Attorney General of New Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte has been presented with the daily challenge of working under the scrutiny of the public eye.
Though she is considered very young in her field, 32 year-old Ayotte has already had much experience as the Chief of the Homicide Unit in the Office of the Attorney General.
Ayotte, along with fellow Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Delaney, will also be a Chief Prosecutor in the murder case of Susanne and Half Zantop, a case she has been heavily involved with since the very beginning.
The New Hampshire native grew up in Nashua and went on to receive her undergraduate degree at Pennsylvania State University. "I developed an interest in law in college when I was a political science major," Ayotte told The Dartmouth.
Ayotte was very involved in student leadership. She was a member of Delta Gamma sorority and President of the Panhellenic Council at Penn State.
"I always thought it was interesting because when I was President of the Panhellenic Council," Ayotte explained, "I was also the president of the largest women's organization on campus."
While commenting on the Greek system, Ayotte described her time as a Greek member as a positive experience. "It allowed me to get involved with leadership positions and I also made some tremendous friendships through the system," she explained.
"I think involvement in student activities helped me develop a sense of what my interests were," Ayotte said. "I think it helped me broaden my horizons."
Upon graduating from law school at Villanova, she clerked for a year at the New Hampshire Supreme Court, working with Justice Sherman Horton. She then spent three and a half years in private practice with a large law firm in Manchester.
Ayotte said she was not aware of the opportunities available in the public sector as a law student, though. It was not until she became clerk in the New Hampshire Supreme Court that she became aware of the Attorney General's role in public cases.
"There are tremendous opportunities for young people to have significant responsibilities faster than in the private sector," Ayotte said.
Ayotte certainly has had her share of responsibility since joining the Office of the Attorney General in February, 1998.
"I would say that 99% of the work that I do relates to homicide," Ayotte said.
As the current Chief of the Homicide Unit, Ayotte coordinates homicide cases throughout the state with the other prosecutors that work in her unit. She directly reports to the Attorney General and regularly updates him on cases in New Hampshire.
"The office of the Attorney General has responsibility for prosecuting the homicide cases in New Hampshire," Ayotte explained, adding that these cases "require our unit to travel all around the state and prosecute homicide cases in different counties."
Ayotte works closely with the major crime department of the state police as well as other major police agencies throughout New Hampshire.
Dealing with major tragedies like the Zantops is part of the job for Ayotte. She described her homicide work as both the challenging and the rewarding because she feels she is able to help people.
"I learn new things on every case that I work on," Ayotte emphasized, and she especially noted the experience she has had working on the Zantop case.
The recent deaths of Susanne and Half Zantop brought not only investigators to the Hanover area, but flocks of reporters as well. This media presence made the experience especially unique for Ayotte.
"Certainly the case is different based on the level of media scrutiny," Ayotte explained. "I'm used to dealing primarily with local media but the Zantop case is somewhat unique in that it has drawn national attention."
The media presence made the job more difficult but "we were treating the case itself as we would treat other murder cases," Ayotte said.
Ayotte laughed after being asked how the media attention has affected her. She quickly mentioned that "for some reason, people always report that my hobby is cycling. [The media] always does that but I've kind of accepted it as part of working in this type of position."
Ayotte does not know where she would go on to from her current position as Senior Assistant AG, but she repeatedly mentioned her present work and her colleagues.
"[Attorney General] Phil McLaughlin is the best person to work for," she said. "I have learned so much from him. It's really a pleasure to work for him."
She is quick to give credit to the talented people she works with. "I am fortunate to work for an Attorney General who gives people opportunities based on their skills," Ayotte said repeatedly, "and the people I work with are incredibly hard workers and we have a real sense of team in our unit."
This is what Ayotte said she believes is the most important thing she has learned while working in the office. "You're part of something greater, you're part of a team," she remarked, "and you need to recognize that you have to work with each other to accomplish a goal."
Currently Ayotte is working on the prosecution of the Zantop murder suspects and also has other cases that she is responsible for litigating.
