State v. O'Brien

After a bench trial in the Superior Court (DiClerico, J.), the defendant, Martin O’Brien, was convicted of driving a motor vehicle on the ways of this State while an habitual offender. RSA 262:23 (1982) (current version at Supp. 1988). He was sentenced to the minimum mandatory term of imprisonment required by statute, twelve months in the house of correction, but was granted weekly work release. The sentence was stayed pending this appeal, in which Mr. O’Brien claims that the trial court erred in ruling that the defense of competing harms, codified at RSA 627:3, was unavailable to him as a…