Case Against Judge Is Weak, Lawyer Says

A vengeful colleague with a ruined career, harsh interpretations of uncertain evidence and a badgering prosecutor explain the impeachment case against New Hampshire’s chief justice, the defense contended. A key witness on one issue has acknowledged he could be wrong, attorney Michael Madigan said in his opening statement to the state Senate. Challenging an allegation that state Supreme Court Chief Justice David A. Brock made an improper call to a lower court judge in 1987, Madigan promised to produce a witness who will support Brock’s claim that the lower court judge called him about a case, not the other way around. Brock’s lawyers contend that nothing he did was serious enough to warrant conviction.