Prosecutor: Expect decision on Pollard case soon

DOVER, N.H. - A Strafford County prosecutor told The Lebanon Voice on Tuesday that the public can expect a decision soon on how her office intends to resolve the hit-and-run case against the husband of Rochester’s Economic Development Director.

Leslie Pollard, 51, of 17 Hemlock St., Rochester, was allegedly driving his car, with his wife in the passenger seat, along Lowell Street when he ran into a 28-year-old Rochester woman on Dec. 29.

He was charged with felony conduct after an accident and misdemeanor drunken driving in the case. His wife has never been charged. The DWI was recently nol prossed meaning the charge won’t be prosecuted as of now.

The victim was struck as she walked along Lowell Street near the Revolution Church after the car she was riding in with two friends broke down and she got out of the car saying she wanted to go home, according to police affidavits.

The Pollards along with the victim and the same two friends were all drinking at a downtown social club earlier in the evening, affidavits state.

Leslie Pollard, who left the club with his wife a short time after the other three, told police he thought he may have hit “an animal or ice” in the vicinity of the church, but didn’t want to stop because he was so close to home. He is said to have told a family member to go check the area and his wife to call police soon after he arrived home.

The victim ended up suffering an injured shoulder and is recovering.

Leslie and Karen Pollard at his probable cause hearing on Feb. 4. (Lebanon Voice file photo)

Assistant County Attorney Andrea Mitrushi said prosecutors are looking hard at the facts of the case and there should be some movement in the near future.

“We are evaluating whether to go forward, and expect a decision will be made pretty soon,” Mitrushi said.

From the start veteran defense lawyers like Stu Dedopoulos of Durham have indicated the state’s case is not easy, and Mitrushi echoed those sentiments on Tuesday.

“It is a complicated case that we are seriously considering, but we have to make sure we could prove all the elements of conduct after an accident which require us to prove knowledge that the defendant knew that they caused an accident that caused personal injury.”

Dedopoulos, of Bamford, Dedopoulos & Regan, said earlier this spring that if the case goes to trial Strafford County prosecutors will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was Leslie Pollard driving the car, not his wife, Karen Pollard, a highly paid Director of Economic Development for the City of Rochester.

“The argument may be that he admitted he was driving, because he was taking the rap for his wife, who has a well-paying job and who had also been drinking (that night),” Dedopoulos said. “Remember they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The events of Dec. 29 in connection with the case as alleged in police affidavits couldn’t be more bizarre.

First, it is alleged that the Pollards were drinking at the Club Victoire in downtown Rochester with two friends and the woman who would end up being the victim.

Then the woman and her two friends left and subsequently their car allegedly broke down on Lowell Street, whereupon the woman, who later said she couldn’t remember leaving the club, got out of the vehicle and started walking home.

It was sometime during this time that Leslie Pollard is alleged to have struck her while driving home with his wife in his Ford Taurus.

Leslie Pollard, who later told police he thought he may have hit “an animal or ice,” is said to have told a family member to go check the crash area and told his wife to call police soon after he arrived home.

He told police he didn’t want to stop because he was so close to home.

Police conducted an investigation and interviews at the Pollard home that night while Leslie Pollard, who was reported as highly intoxicated, continued to guzzle wine while officers were still at the Pollard residence, an affidavit states.

Pollard was arrested in the early hours of Dec. 30 and is alleged by the arresting officer to have confessed to the crime at the booking table.

Karen Pollard, meanwhile, had a brief skirmish with police over turning over the access code to her city-owned cell phone, on which she sent several text messages to Rochester Police Chief Michael Allen the night of the incident. Allen never returned the messages, and Karen Pollard later turned in the phone voluntarily.

A short time later she gave up her Deputy City Manager position, but is still the city’s Economic Development Director.

Now, four and a half months after the case was bound over to Superior Court, still with no indictment, a circumspect Mitrushi remains confident the right decision will be made in the end.

“Sometimes things are accidents,” she said, “And sometimes things result in criminal charges.”

Meanwhile, Club Victoire still faces scrutiny from the state’s Liquor Commission, which will wait until the criminal case is over before contemplating any possible action regarding possible overserving.