Manchester police officer acquitted of all charges in domestic abuse case

From left, Officer Micheal MacNeilly , Defense Attorney Eric Wilson and prosecuting attorney Jon Gasaway view a video recording taken by MacNeilly of his wife. Photo/Pat Grossmith

MANCHESTER, NH – Michael MacNeilly, the Manchester police officer accused of assaulting his pregnant wife, was acquitted Thursday of all charges by a district court judge.

Judge Jared Bedrick issued his verdict from the bench, after Shannon MacNeilly, called by the state as a rebuttal witness, stepped down from the stand.

MacNeilly, 28, said nothing as he left 9th Circuit Court – District Division – Manchester about 3:30 p.m.  He took the stand in his own defense for about 3 ½ hours over two days and denied ever assaulting his wife.  He maintained that his wife fabricated the allegations to hurt him in the custody battle for their daughter, now a year old, and harm his career.

“Michael’s relieved,” Eric Wilson, his attorney, said after the judge issued his verdict.

Shannon MacNeilly said she had no comment as she was leaving the courthouse.

The trial took place over four, non-consecutive days beginning in August.  Mrs. MacNeilly testified for more than six hours.  

An investigation into the alleged abuse began on Oct. 17, 2023 when Michael MacNeilly called a fellow officer at the police station to find out if anyone had reported a domestic incident at his home.  That day, MacNeilly testified his wife screamed and he feared someone in the neighborhood, hearing her, might have called 911.

No one had but 20 minutes later, two supervising officers arrived at gthe MacNeilly home to find out what happened.  Asked if her husband had assaulted her, Mrs. MacNeilly told the officers not that night but he had in the past.

Judge Jared Bedrick. Photo/Pat Grossmith

She had never filed any police reports about those incidents and had not taken any photographs of alleged injuries.

The couple, who were married seven months before separating and filing for divorce, met through a dating app in October 2022.  They married in March 2023 and separated the following October after she filed for a restraining order accusing him of a series of assaults.  She gave birth to their daughter on Aug. 20, 2023.

MacNeilly was charged with six counts of simple assault, and one charge each of criminal mischief and obstructing the report of the crime.  The incidents took place between Aug. 27 and Oct. 2, 2023, and accused him of slapping her; shoving her onto a couch, irritating her C-section; grabbing her chin and pushing her head into a door; hitting her in the mouth with a metal beverage bottle, and shoving her to the floor.  The criminal mischief offense accused him of damaging her cell phone by throwing it against a wall while the obstructing a report of crime accuse him of preventing her from reporting an offense to law enforcement or request emergency medical attention.

MacNeilly, testifying under direct examination by Wilson, said in the spring and summer his relationship with his wife was strained. Shannon, he said, would harangue him with suspicions and accusations of cheating on her.   It was untrue, he said, but the accusations were constant.

On Aug.7, 2023, MacNeilly said he woke to find the Hinge app – which he deleted in December 2023 – was back on his cell phone which he had placed in a charger on his night stand.  Shannon was the only one in the house who could have done that, he said.

MacNeilly said he chose not to mention the app to Shannon because “it wasn’t an argument I wanted to have.” 

When he was in the shower that day, he said Shannon came in and confronted him about posts from the past.  He said she kept opening the shower curtain and he kept closing it.  His wife, he said, told him he was dishonest and a cheater.  Shannon testified that he reached out of the shower and slapped her in the face that day.  

Asked by Wilson if he slapped her, MacNeilly said, “Absolutely not.”

He said he never assaulted his wife and he didn’t break her phone.  He said it broke when she tried to grab his cell phone and, wearing slippers and holding her phone, she slipped in the kitchen, fell, dropped the phone and it broke.

MacNeilly testified he made eight video recordings of his wife to “protect himself” and took a screenshot of himself with water on his face after she poured water on him while he was sleeping.

He took a photo of a broken door latch which, he said, Shannon broke. That day, after she had continuously screamed at him, he took the baby and went into a bedroom and latched the door. Shannon, he said, “shouldered the door” breaking the latch and forcing the door open.

 He also recounted that one time she told him she hoped he was shot and killed while on duty.

 Under cross-examination by Attorney John Gasaway, prosecutor for the New Hampshire Department of Safety, questioned MacNeilly about his recordings.  MacNeilly said he did that “just to protect myself.” 

Shannon MacNeilly leaving the courtroom on Oct. 3, 2024. Photo/Pat Grossmith

He asked if some were recorded without her knowledge and MacNeilly conceded some were but said “she was generally aware.” He agreed that sometimes when she asked if he was recording her, he would say he wasn’t even though he was.

 While Mrs. MacNeilly testified her husband though a metal water bottle at her, hitting her in the face, injuring her, the defense produced photographs around the time of the incident that did not show any injury.  Mrs. MacNeilly said the injury was to the interior of her mouth.

 MacNeilly was arrested in April after turning himself in to authorities and was placed on paid administrative leave.  While New Hampshire State Police were conducting the investigation, MacNeilly worked in dispatch.

His wife obtained a domestic violence petition in Family Court, resulting in a restraining order preventing him from possessing firearms.  Police took his service weapon from him along with 16 guns stored in a safe at his home.  

Manchester Ink Link reached out to Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg for comment and to ask when MacNeilly would be reinstated.  As of publication, there was no response.