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DOVER – A civil suit was filed in Strafford County Court Tuesday on behalf of the family of Benjamin Shannon alleging his shooting death by three law enforcement officers on March 10 in Rochester was the result of negligence and improper police procedures.

In an emotional news conference at the Comfort Inn in Dover Tuesday afternoon, Shannon’s mother, Beverly, and his older brother, Wayne Shannon, Jr., described Shannon as a troubled young man at the time of his death. They said he was dealing with both drug and alcohol issues, in addition to being agoraphobic (a fear of crowds), at the time of the shooting.

Having difficulty holding back tears, and having to pause frequently to compose themselves, his mother an_d brother described Benjamin as having been a happy-go-lucky guy who used to enjoy the simple things in life such as camping, fishing, his dog, his family and, in particular, the sport of boxing.

But on Tuesday, Shannon’s mother recalled seeing her son being wheeled out of the house on a stretcher.
She said, “He was crying out, ‘I have been shot, help me.’ Those were the last words I heard him say. It hurts me so much that police would not let me leave my van (where police placed her during the incident) to go to him to at least look into his eyes and have him understand his mother was with him.”

Shannon was taken after the shooting to Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester where a medi-vac helicopter transported him to Maine Medical Center in Portland. He died there shortly after midnight.
Through their attorney, Peter G. McGrath of McGrath Law Firm in Concord, Beverly and Wayne Shannon said they hoped the resolution of the case would provide enough money to set up a program to help young people with alcohol and drug problems and to create sports programs dedicated to Ben Shannon.
McGrath said the lawsuit was filed against both the Strafford County Sheriffs Department and the Strafford County Probation Department.

He said the suit alleges four primary allegations against those departments: negligence, wrongful death, negligent supervision and violation of civil rights that led to the shooting and death of Shannon, 34. The suit also alleges negligence of infliction of emotional distress on Shannon’s mother and family.

According to McGrath, two probation officers and one Strafford County deputy sheriff went to Shannon’s mother’s home on Periwinkle Drive in the Saks Mobile Home Park in Rochester around 3 p.m. on March 10. It was there, his filing recounts, that they failed to follow what are generally accepted as safety standard for police officers. The suit alleges the officers failed to follow routine protocols that should have been followed in such a confrontation.

McGrath, a former prosecuting attorney, said proper procedure in this type of situation is for police to back off when confronted as they were, contact a supervisor and call for backup.

McGrath recounted the officers came to Beverly Shannon’s house and told her they were looking for Wayne Shannon. She told them he was not there, but she let the officers in the house and they proceeded down a hallway where they “observed Benjamin in a room and shouted, ‘Somebody in there? Come out. ‘”
Wayne Shannon told reporters at the news conference he did not understand why anyone would be looking for him because his parole officer knew he was in Vermont at a rehab hospital at the time.
According to the filings detailing the incident, a shouting match erupted between the officers and Ben Shannon while they were in the hallway.

Reports are that Shannon told police to back off and police responded by saying, “Ben, you don’t want to do this.” Shots were fired shortly afterward.

One officer went back down the hallway and took Beverly Shannon and a girlfriend who was visiting Ben Shannon out of the home and put them in Beverly’s van.

McGrath said it still isn’t known which officers did the shooting or what caused the shooting to begin. But he said one bullet fired through a bathroom door apparently struck Shannon, who was in a crouching position.

He said two officers then went into a room and through another door to come up behind Shannon, where they fired at least three or more shots at him. Three bullets passed through the wall of mobile home. Whether four or five shots were fired is a matter of contention, McGrath said.

Shannon was reported to have been struck by at least three bullets, but McGrath said the number that struck him has not been confirmed. McGrath said Shannon was not known to be violent and was not armed when he was shot.

“They had no search warrant and no reason to exert deadly force,” McGrath said. He later clarified that police did not need a search warrant as they were at the house regarding a parole violation.

Earlier reports noted Ben Shannon was recently charged with robbery of a Rochester variety store while armed with a pellet gun. He was out on bail on charges related to that incident but had failed to keep appointments with parole officers.

Although he said it seemed inappropriate to discuss it in detail at this time, McGrath said it is just a fact that the family has significant medical bills and funeral expenses as a result of death of Shannon.
He said the Attorney General’s report on their investigation is still probably weeks away and that the state has requested Ben Shannon’s medical records from the family that he does not believe they are entitled too.

“Regardless of the conclusions of the AG’s investigative report,” McGrath said, “we will go forward with this suit.”

Couple not charged in deaths caused by tainted steroids

A couple linked to the New England Compounding Center, which was involved in a deadly meningitis
outbreak, has pleaded guilty to financial crimes.

While Doug and Carla Conigliaro are not charged in the deaths resulting from the outbreak, they did
face justice Friday in a Massachusetts federal courtroom. They admitted to opening accounts and
making more than 100 withdrawals to hide money.

Despite pleading guilty to financial crimes, the couple might not see any jail time.
They admitted Friday to hiding more than $123,000 after the company declared bankruptcy and
following the outbreak of fungal meningitis in 2012.

“To say that it was just the people that were running the stuff day to day is just a cop-out because
you can’t own a business without knowing what is going on in that business,” said Jay Doyle, a
victim who still suffers from health issues because of the tainted steroids.

The contaminated steroid produced at NECC killed 64 people and sickened more than 750 in 20
states. The Conigliaros are not charged in any of those cases. Doyle wants them to be punished.

“I was in the hospital for 40 days and I wasn’t expected to live,” he said.
Carla Conigliaros was NECC’s majority owner and Doug Conigliaros was director of an affiliated
company.

The couple admitted to making withdrawals small enough to not be reported by the bank.
Attorney Peter McGrath, who represents about 30 victims, 22 of whom are from New Hampshire,
believes the Conigliaros will testify against others.

“These two people today will probably help them go after the bigger targets, so it’s not over yet and I
have faith in the process and in these federal prosecutors in Boston,” McGrath said.

The couple’s attorney said they have been sorry since the beginning.

“Today’s hearing in court makes very clear, as has every previous court appearance, that Carla and
Doug Conigliaro had nothing to do with the day-to-day operations at the compounding center,” said
David Meier, the defendants’ attorney.

By DAVID BROOKS   Monitor staff      Published: 6/26/2021 11:00:06 AM

A judge has ruled that you don’t need a real estate license to handle short-term rentals for other people through online marketplaces like Airbnb, the latest debate over rules and regulations of the fairly new industry.

It’s unclear whether the ruling, handed down in October by Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Andrew Schulman, will affect ongoing debates about whether towns and cities can control these short-term rentals, but it does confirm that no such system exists at the state level.

“The legislature has not yet developed a comprehensive statutory scheme to govern the rapidly changing practice of ‘home sharing’,” Schulman wrote.

“This shows that the state cannot regulate short-term rentals at all under the current legislative scheme,” said Peter McGrath, whose law firm represented the defendant, Kerri McCauley, noting that the situation is different in other states. “It leaves a question as to whether each community should start to regulate short-term rentals.”

Short-term rentals are a source of controversy in some areas, particularly tourist-oriented locations. Supporters argue that they provide a flexible source of income for property owners, while opponents say that they can ruin the local quality of life due to noise and traffic, and can make apartments and homes more expensive by removing units from the local housing stock.

The town of Conway has been particularly aggressive on the issue. It put the matter on the annual meeting warrant – where voters OK’d the idea of rentals but gave selectmen permission to regulate them – and has petitioned the Superior Court for authority to control the rentals. In recent years Canterbury has sent cease-and-desist orders to some renters, alleging violation of zoning laws, while the question of Portsmouth’s ability to regulate rentals went to the state Supreme Court, which upheld it.

October’s court ruling was spurred by a New Hampshire Real Estate Commission charge that McCauley of Conway was acting as a real estate agent without a license for handling other people’s rentals through Airbnb and Homeaway, for which she collected a fee. According to the ruling, the commission has sought to have criminal charges, not just civil charges, brought against McCauley.

Judge Schulman ruled that short-term rentals were not covered by state law regarding real estate transactions, which concern the legal term “leasehold.”

“No three-day Airbnb guest would believe that he or she obtained an interest in real estate. It is not even within the periphery of imagination that a family with a contract for a week-long Airbnb stay would … (record) the agreement at the registry of deeds,” he wrote, adding that the state rooms and meals tax “applies to short-term tourist ‘rentals’ just as if they were motel rooms” and the law “exempts such ‘rentals’ from landlord/tenant protections.”

Schulman did allow some aspects of the Commission’s complaint against McCauley to go forward, “to determine whether McCauley crossed the line into real estate practice” as part of her services.

The complaint was filed in October 2018 and covered activities stretching back several years. Its passage through the court was delayed in part by the retirement of Judge Richard McNamara, who heard a May 7, 2020, hearing on the merits of the case.

(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or [email protected] or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)

https://www.concordmonitor.com/rental-short-term-license-real-estate-court-41080125