State v. Whitney

The defendant, Norman Whitney, appeals his convictions on two counts of witness tampering. RSA 641:5, II. The issues presented for review are whether the Trial Judge (Coritas, J.): (1) properly admitted evidence of the defendant’s prior convictions, and (2) abused his discretion in denying defendant’s motion to sever the two charges for trial.

In October, 1980, Priscilla Bohannon Chaffee gave a statement to the Cheshire County sheriff’s department implicating the defendant in a theft of plywood in West Swanzey. In January, 1981, Paul “Renny” Davis implicated the defendant in a burglary…