Brian Shea pled no contest at the Lebanon District Court on Monday during his hearing for charges related to an incident involving alleged cocaine use at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on May 13. At the hearing, Shea was accused of a Class B misdemeanor — a reduction from the original felony charge that prompted Lebanon District Court Judge Albert Cirone to question whether the parties involved in the incident have received special treatment.
“I think we’re treating [Shea] and his cohorts virtually different than we treat everyone else in the Lebanon District Court,” Cirone said in the trial.
Despite Cirone’s concerns, Shea’s attorney, Brian Marsicovetere of Griffin, Marsicovetere and Wilkes, said in an interview with The Dartmouth that he disagreed with any notion of special treatment for his client.
Following the plea bargain, Shea was found guilty for “possession of controlled or narcotic drugs” and was fined $750, in addition to a fine of $180 for penalty assessment to cover the cost of the court proceedings.
Shea’s no contest plea legally states that he will neither challenge the guilty ruling nor acknowledge guilt for the charge.
The complaint filed against Shea will also not include the word “cocaine,” which allows the state to present the case as a misdemeanor rather than a felony, Grafton County police prosecutor Christopher O’Connor said. A Class B misdemeanor has a maximum fine of $1,200, according to state sentencing guidelines.
When presented with the plea agreement, Cirone expressed concern over the omission of the word “cocaine” from the record.
“It bothered me the other day with [Sarah Koo ’10], so I was just wondering why,” Cirone said.
In response to Cirone’s concerns, O’Connor said that the state of New Hampshire should remain consistent with the prior court rulings for Koo and Andrew Lohse ’12, two students who were also allegedly involved in the May 13 incident. The court dropped Lohse’s felony charge of cocaine possession to a Class B misdemeanor and Koo pled guilty to a Class B misdemeanor for “knowingly [having] in her possession a controlled drug.”
O’Connor also said that the decision to remove the word “cocaine” from the complaint was also due to the state’s lack of evidence to support a felony charge. The state had only one eyewitness of the alleged incident and identified a very low quantity of residue on the item that the eyewitness said the suspects possessed, O’Connor said during the proceedings. The item had previously been identified as a photo composite in SAE’s physical plant, according to the affidavit filed at the time of arrest.
Shea admitted to consuming large quantities of alcohol in the hours prior to the arrival of Safety and Security on the night of the incident and told police that he had “no memory of anything involving cocaine.” Shea also denied involvement in the possession and use of cocaine at the time of his arrest.
Although Shea walked at this year’s Commencement ceremony, the College has not officially specified whether he received a diploma.
“Given federal privacy laws and the College’s own policies, the institution is never in a position to address the specific situations of particular individuals, by name, in matters like this,” former Director of Media Relations Roland Adams wrote in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. “However, we can point out that College policy allows students who are within four credits of completing academic requirements for the A.B. degree to petition the Dean of the College Office for permission to participate in Commencement activities — though they do not receive a degree until they have completed all requirements of the degree and are in good standing overall with the College.”
Shea declined to comment for this article.
O’Connor did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
Staff writer Katie Gonzalez contributed to the reporting of this article.