Meehan fights to call criminal defendants to testify about alleged YDC abuse

Apr. 23—The plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging abuse at the Youth Development Center in the 1990s wants eight criminal defendants to take the stand though they are expected invoke their right against self-incrimination.

Lawyers David Vicinanzo and Rus Riley have asked Judge Andrew Schulman to deny a request by the state to block eight planned witnesses who are facing criminal charges in connection to abuse at YDC from testifying.

Eleven people have been charged with abuse of children in state custody at the Manchester facility and at a Concord facility between 1994 and 2007. Eight of those appear on the witness list.

The civil lawsuit, filed by former YDC resident David Meehan in 2020, alleges the state failed in its duty to protect him and was guilty of negligence at YDC in Manchester and the Sununu Youth Services Center complex, which later replaced the YDC.

The trial is taking place in Rockingham County Superior Court.

The state claims that allowing the criminal defendants to plead the Fifth should not be permitted under Rule 403, which states a judge may exclude relevant evidence if its value is substantially outweighed by its potentially prejudicial effects.

In the objection, Meehan's lawyers request "a fair chance to present his case to the jury."

"The risk is that putting forth eight criminal defendants who invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege creates the false impression that there are eight witnesses who corroborate what Mr. Meehan alleges," the filing reads.

The jury has already heard evidence of the criminal investigation, including State Police Sgt. Kelly Lapointe's testimony about her role in the investigation.

"It is unlikely that compelling the individuals who are subject to the criminal investigation to testify and likely assert their right against self-incrimination before the jury would cause any unfair prejudice to the State Defendants," the objection reads.

Meehan alleges that the acts of the individual employees "were aligned in a common plan or design to create a culture" of silence, secrecy and abuse.

"The individual witnesses are integral to the case. They are among the many individuals who state defendants hired to work at YDC, failed to supervise, failed to train adequately, failed to investigate, failed to admonish, and failed to terminate," the objection reads. "These failures and the environment created and perpetuated in and on the grounds of YDC led directly to the physical and sexual assaults and psychological harm inflicted upon Mr. Meehan by the individual witnesses."

The state in its opening statements said it shouldn't be held responsible for the actions of "rogue" employees.

Judge Schulman has yet to rule on the requests.