State of New Hampshire v. Jami Castine

Summary

The New Hampshire Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to set aside one of two first‑degree assault convictions and remanded for a judgment of not guilty on that count. The Court held that the State failed to prove the requisite separate acts because the evidence, which was solely circumstantial, did not exclude the reasonable conclusion that the injuries resulted from a single blow. The decision applied a de novo standard of review and affirmed that the unit of prosecution is each act, not each injury.