State v. Bisbee, 165 N.H. 61

In Jan. 2011, a Rockingham County grand jury returned seven indictments charging perjury.
Four indictments allege perjury from statements made around March 6, 2009 before a grand jury about Kristin Ruggiero and related facts.
Three indictments allege perjury in the State v. Kristin Ruggiero trial on Apr. 27, 2010 involving similar or the same statements.
Defendant moved to dismiss, arguing indictments failed to fully inform him and lacked specific statements; motions were denied.
At trial, after closing, defendant moved for a mistrial over alleged prosecutor remarks; the court denied the motion.
Jury convicted on five counts of perjury and acquitted on two; defendant appeals raising sufficiency of indictments and closing-argument issues; the court affirms the convictions.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of perjury indictments	Bisbee argues indictments are insufficient for failing to allege specific statements	Bisbee contends indictments summarize testimony and do not state concrete statements	Indictments are constitutionally and statutorily sufficient; summaries of statements are permissible so long as the elements are charged and notice is provided
Closing argument and mistrial	Bisbee contends prosecutor’s “dirty cop” and “mope” remarks were improper and prejudicial	Bisbee argues remarks deviated from evidence and warranted a mistrial	Prosecutor’s remarks were within permissible closing-argument latitude; mistrial denied; no reversible error

State v. Marshall, 162 N.H. 657 (2011) (indictment sufficiency and notice under state constitution)
State v. Ball, 124 N.H. 226 (1983) (due process notice standard for indictments)
State v. Ortiz, 162 N.H. 585 (2011) (indictment sufficiency; elements and notice)
United States v. Yasak, 884 F.2d 996 (7th Cir. 1989) (perjury indictment sufficiency; statements need not be verbatim)
Commonwealth v. Allison, 751 N.E.2d 868 (Mass. 2001) (perjury indictment sufficiency; stating testimony in substance)
State v. Therrien, 129 N.H. 765 (1987) (double jeopardy and notice implications in charging)
State v. Sands, 123 N.H. 570 (1983) (perjury indictment practice and specificity)
State v. Settle, 132 N.H. 626 (1990) (statutory interpretation of perjury Elements)