Francis A. Lovely v. Michael J. Cunningham, Warden, New Hampshire State Prison

COFFIN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal from the district court’s denial of a writ of habeas corpus challenges the retroactive application to petitioner of the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s construction of the state’s Aggravated Felonious Sexual Assault statute, RSA 632-A:2 (Supp.1983). In particular, the challenge addresses the court’s interpretation of “ex tortion”, one of the listed means of coercing sexual penetration, as embracing “threats of economic reprisal”. State v. Lovely, 124 N.H. 690, 695, 480 A.2d 847, 850 (1984). We affirm the judgment below.

The indictments, containing twelve counts,…