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Attorney General drops charge against former Youth Development Center employee

2 days ago in Local

James Woodlock is arraigned via video as Judge William Lyons presides at right, Thursday, April 8, 2021, at Manchester, N.H. District Court, in connection with sexual abuse allegations at the Sununu Youth Services Center, a state-run youth detention center. Six former staffers at New Hampshire’s state-run youth detention center were arrested Wednesday in connection with the abuse of 11 children over the course of a decade. Photo: Associated Press/AP Photo/Elise Amendola, Pool

MANCHESTER, N.H- The Attorney General’s Office says it will no longer pursue one of the two remaining cases against James Woodlock, a former Youth Development Center employee previously convicted of being an accomplice to the rape of a 16-year-old at the facility in the 1990s.

Ahead of a trial scheduled to get underway next month, Prosecutor Audriana Mekula filed paperwork Monday dropping one of the two charges of aggravated felonious assault, citing “prosecutorial discretion.” Meanwhile another case charging Woodlock with two counts aggravated felonious sexual assault remains on the docket for next year.

Woodlock appeared in court Monday after his attorney Richard Guerriero recently filed paperwork that he doesn’t believe his client is competent enough to stand trial, claiming Woodlock’s’ mental acuity has declined due to his time in solitary confinement.

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