Robert Dellinger, a Sunapee resident and former Fortune 500 executive implicated in an Interstate 89 collision that killed a couple in early December, was denied bail on second-degree murder charges at an arraignment on Dec. 27, the Valley News reported. Dellinger is now awaiting his Jan. 14 probable cause hearing. Prosecutors initially charged Dellinger with manslaughter but subsequently upgraded the charges to second-degree murder, for which the maximum sentence constitutes life in prison. Prosecutors alleged that Dellinger drove his pickup truck into the couple’s oncoming vehicle on I-89 in a suicide attempt, according to the Valley News. Dellinger resigned from his executive position in 2011 due to health issues and is reported to have taken insomnia and antidepressant medication prior to the collision.
A bill introduced in Vermont by David Zuckerman, P-Chittenden, would create a framework to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis while also allowing adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana for recreational use, the Valley News reported. Zuckerman asserted that legalization would reduce incentive for black market trade and allow taxpayer dollars to be directed toward addiction education and treatment. Sen. Jeannette White, D-Windham, introduced a bill last year to eliminate the existing 1,000-person limit on the number of patients who can acquire marijuana through a dispensary. The New Hampshire House of Representatives will vote early this year on a bill to legalize the maximum amount of marijuana for recreational use by those 21 and older, The Daily Chronicle reported. Even if the bill passes in the House, its future looks uncertain, as the Senate last year rejected legislation to decriminalize smaller amounts of marijuana for recreational use.
Shane Harlow of Quechee, Vt., a former Dartmouth Safety and Security officer, was sentenced to five years in prison and assigned to a treatment program for sexually assaulting two girls, the Valley News reported. The victims’ family pleaded for a longer sentence, but the judge stated that she had taken Harlow’s cooperation with the police and lack of a prior criminal record into account. Harlow was also involved in an unrelated misdemeanor count, in which he stood accused of running over the body of a Dartmouth graduate student in late 2012. It is uncertain whether Harlow’s car hit the body before or after the student’s death on Interstate 91. He received a 30-day sentence.
