MANCHESTER, NH – A public defender running as the Democratic candidate for Hillsborough County attorney is asking a judge to sanction Republican incumbent John Coughlin.
Kim Kossick, a public defender in the Manchester office since 2006, is asking a judge to impose monetary sanctions against Hillsborough County Attorney Coughlin and order him to take down a website, which attacks her and which she says violates the rights of her client, Amuri Diole. She maintains it could taint a potential jury pool.
“Instead of ensuring justice for the victim, Kossick prioritized the legal defense of a man deemed too dangerous to release into society,” the kimkossick.com website says.
Diole was found incompetent to stand trial on charges he raped a woman for two hours in the Valley Cemetery in 2021.
Kossick says in her motion filed Monday in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District, that what is published on the website violates Diole’s due process rights, his right to effective assistance of counsel, right to a fair trial, and right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
She also wants the court to dismiss Diole’s case because of “irreversible prejudice caused by Attorney Coughlin’s actions.”
Coughlin, in an email statement, says that “Procedurally and factually, Amuri Diole was indicted for aggravated felonious sexual assault and other related violent crimes alleging a brutal rape in the cemetery in 2021. The court found the defendant not competent to stand trial and dismissed the criminal charges against him. Since the court also found the defendant dangerous, he remained in jail so the County Attorney could seek to have Diole committed as a sexually violent predator pursuant to the civil process specified in NH RSA 135-E. In September 2022, the court heard evidence over the course of two days and found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed two separate acts of aggravated felonious sexual assault as alleged in the dismissed criminal indictments. A subsequent multidisciplinary team found that Mr. Diole does meet the criteria for civil commitment under RSA 135-E as a sexually violent predator. “
He says the criminal charges have been dismissed and “There is, therefore, no criminal case pending.”
Kossick agrees there are no criminal charges now but, she says the state by having public defenders represent people in the civil proceeding is acknowledging that there is the potential for their freedom being taken away, that is being involuntarily committed to the Secure Psychiatric Unit at the New Hampshire State Prison.
Coughlin says it is Kossick, in filing the motion and purposely including the Union Leader as a party in her pleadings, who “has taken an obscure opposition political web site and thrust it into the Public Eye, presumably for her own political advantage. I strongly believe in an individual’s right to counsel as outlined in the New Hampshire and Federal Constitution. The issue is whether my opponent has the judgment to serve as the Hillsborough County Attorney, protect the rights of victims, their families, ensure community safety and seek Justice for those who are powerless.”
Kossick became aware of the website on Oct. 17 while in Hudson to address Hudson Democrats.
At the bottom of the website is the notice: Paid for by John J. Coughlin candidate for Hillsborough County Attorney. Fiscal Agent, Pamela Coughlin, Amherst, NH.
It features a photo of Kossick and in large letters says:
“KIM KOSSICK prioritizes criminals over victims. This longtime public defender, has represented some of the most dangerous and violent criminals in our community. As she now seeks to become our County Attorney, it’s time to ask: Can we really trust her to protect our families and deliver justice.”
Diole’s case is one that is highlighted under the title, “A Violent Predator Protected.”
Kossick says the website is devoted to disparaging her representation of clients. “The website does not disparage the quality of the work, but explicitly says undesigned counsel displays poor judgment by representing clients charged with serious felonies,” she writes in her motion.
She says her job is to defend her clients. Coughlin, she says, is attacking her for “being a lawyer, for having a job.”
Kossick says she is not happy about the website but “when they come for my client I get upset. I’m the only one standing between him and the government and a Secure Psychiatric Unit.”
Kossick is one of the most senior lawyers in the Manchester Public Defender’s Office and, because of that experience, is assigned the most difficult cases.
Diole was accused of aggravated felonious sexual assault in April 2021 in the rape of a woman in Valley Cemetery. He had been released six days earlier from the Valley Street jail.
He was in the jail after being found incompetent to stand trial on a second-degree assault charge from 2018 in which he was accused of beating a man in Merrimack.
On April 23, 2021, Judge Charles Temple ordered Diole’s release from jail.
“The State has been unable to secure an involuntary commitment order and the 90 day hold period expires on April 27, 2021. As such, Mr. Diole’s release is mandatory under RSA 135:17-a, V.,” the judge said.
Six days later, he was arrested for raping the woman in the cemetery.
“I’m defending him in a crime that probably should not have happened,” Kossick says.
She maintains Diole would not have been out of jail – and not accused of raping a woman — had Coughlin’s office not missed a court deadline. They could have asked for an extension, she said.
Without a home, Diole lived at the Valley Cemetery, across the street from the jail, and where he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman for two hours.
Judge Diane Nicolosi deemed him not competent to stand trial and not restorable in the rape case. She also found that he was dangerous to himself or others, and ordered him held up to 90 days to allow the state to file a petition to involuntarily commit him.
The state filed the motion on July 25, 2022, seeking to certify Diole as a sexually violent predator, which is a civil court process. A bench trial was held in September 2022. The court found Diole had “committed the acts” beyond a reasonable doubt, the civil equivalent of a guilty finding.
The defense appealed that finding to the NH Supreme Court which on July 11, 2024, upheld the findings of the lower court.
Diole was then evaluated by the multidisciplinary team which issued a determination that Diole’s case should proceed to the civil trial to determine if he would be involuntarily committed as a sexually violent predator.
The website also features the case against Robert Gagnon, 46, charged with the attempted murder of one man and first-degree murder of Robert Prest, 83, in 2022 in Lyndeborough. The case is being prosecuted by the New Hampshire Attorney General.
Most recently, Kossick represented Alexandra Eckersley, 27, who last week was given a suspended sentence for abandoning her newborn son in a makeshift tent in freezing temperatures on Dec. 26, 2022.
A status hearing in the sexually violent predator case is set for Nov. 4, 2024. The purpose of that hearing is to schedule trial dates, determine whether there will be a demand for a jury trial and to allow parties to consult with experts.