High Court to hear defense arguments in Farmington slay case appeal

Timothy Verrill, center; Christine Sullivan, left; Jenna Pellegrini, right (Police mugshot Verril; courtesy)

CONCORD - The state's Supreme Court in the next several months will consider arguments in the murder case against a Dover man accused of stabbing and bludgeoning to death two women in Farmington in 2017.

Timothy Verrill. 38. formerly of Belknap Street, Dover, is accused of first-degree murder in the Jan. 27, 2017, deaths of Christine Sullivan, 48, of 979 Meaderboro Road, Farmington, and Jenna Pellegrini, 32, of Barrington.

The high court agreed to hear arguments from the defense in connection with voluminous discovery violations that occurred during Verrill's 2019 murder trial that ended with the defense asking and being granted a mistrial.

Dean Smoronk (Virginia State Police photo)

The defense at trial and in subsequent motions has argued that the court should have declared a mistrial with prejudice, but was denied. A mistrial with prejudice would have resulted in the murder charges being dismissed and the defendant set free.

In his final ruling denying the motion to dismiss with prejudice Strafford Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard concluded in his February order that the defense was still open to exploring other remedies.

State prosecutors sought to correct the trial discovery violations midway through trial, but on Oct. 31, 2019, acknowledged that during their search for evidence to turn over they found it would be an overwhelming task and could not be expedited.
The next day Judge Steven M. Houran declared a mistrial, and the jury was excused.
"In the months following the mistrial, the defense team reviewed the additional undisclosed discovery, amounting to more than 500 written pages and 39 separate discs of media," Strafford County Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard wrote in his February decision to deny.

The High Court's acceptance last month to hear arguments from the defense and the state will likely take several months, Assistant District Attorney Peter Hinckley said on Monday.

A scheduling order for arguments and briefs should come out soon, Hinckley said.

The High Court will specifically be expected to take a look at just how egregious the prosecution's discovery violations were in the 2019 trial, who is culpable and what specific remedies short of a dismissal might be appropriate moving forward.

The defense's key strategy is expected to be centered around a charge that alleges the prosecution "goaded" the defense into asking for a retrial.

The prosecution has vehemently denied such charges, saying they were trying to be open and transparent once the voluminous nature of the discovery blunders were unearthed.

Verrill, a longtime friend of thrice-convicted drug trafficker Dean V. Smoronk who formerly owned the Meaderboro Road house where the killings occurred, is accused of bludgeoning and stabbing to death Sullivan, Smoronk's longtime girlfriend, and Pellegrini on Jan. 27, 2017.

Smoronk pleaded guilty to trafficking meth in September 2019 and was sentenced to 42 months, which he is now serving at MDC Brooklyn, a federal detention center. He is expected to be released by the end of 2021.

During Verrill's trial defense sought to portray Smoronk as an alternative suspect in the two women's deaths.

Verrill remains held at the Carroll County House of Corrections. He faces life in prison without parole if found guilty.