Deerfield lawmaker once arrested for allegedly strangling wife, crashing car she was driving
On March 12, 2010, Deerfield police received a call from a resident reporting a driver who drove away after “swerving all over the road” and crashing into his mailbox. As investigators followed tire tracks from the scene of the accident to a house on Swamp Road, a second 911 call came in from a woman at the same address who said her husband had just tried to kill her.
In court documents, prosecutors described the events that led to the arrest of Deerfield Town Budget Committee chairman James Spillane, who now represents Rockingham District 2 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
Prosecutors alleged that “while arguing with his wife, who was driving the two of them home from dinner, [Spillane] grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it causing the vehicle to go off the road and crash.” The second 911 call came from Spillane’s wife, prosecutors reported, who told police that her husband “just tried to kill her…he totaled her car with her in it and he came in the house and tried to strangle her.”
Police entered the house and found Spillane’s wife “hiding in a bathroom, crying and very hysterical,” the report continued. She told police "that her husband grabbed the wheel and crashed their car, that he grabbed her outside the home and she broke free, and then while inside, he put his hands around her neck and squeezed.”
The court documents describe Spillane’s initial interview with police. “The defendant said that he went out for dinner with his wife and had two beers and a scorpion bowl,” the report noted. “When asked who was driving, the defendant said his wife because he had been drinking. The defendant told the officer that his wife was driving and he grabbed the wheel to take control of the vehicle.”
“He went on to say that after the crash, he pulled the car out of the ditch and drove it home,” the report continued. “When asked if he had been drinking, the defendant replied words to the effect of yes, I should not have been driving. The defendant was asked about the mailbox and said he did not realize he hit a mailbox.”
Police officers arrested Spillane on the scene and confiscated 20 guns from the house under a provision of state law that authorizes seizure if officers have probable cause to believe an act of domestic violence has occurred. Spillane’s wife declined the officers’ offer to seek a protective order.
Spillane pleads guilty
Spillane was subsequently indicted on charges of felony Reckless Conduct, for “grabbing the steering wheel of the vehicle” his wife was driving and “turning it abruptly causing the vehicle to crash;” felony Attempted Second Degree Assault, for strangling his wife with his hands; and misdemeanor Driving While Intoxicated.
On December 10, 2010, after legal efforts to dismiss the attempted second degree assault indictment and to suppress evidence uncovered in the police search and interrogation were denied, Spillane entered into a plea agreement with the state.
The Deerfield Town Budget Committee chairman pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor Reckless Conduct charge and Driving While Intoxicated first offense. He was sentenced to a 12-month suspended prison term and two years probation.
In 2014, Spillane ran for a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives representing Rockingham District 2, a Republican-leaning district comprising Candia, Deerfield and Nottingham. The Deerfield Republican ousted incumbent Romeo Danais in the GOP primary and went on to win a seat in the general election by a comfortable margin.
In his first year in the House, he voted against House Bill 681, which increased funding for the state’s Domestic Violence Prevention Program.
Spillane is running for reelection as a ”Constitutional Conservative“ who will work "to keep Concord out of our wallets, keep the United States and New Hampshire Constitutions inviolate and whole, and with straightforward integrity.” He was the leading vote getter in this year’s Rockingham District 2 Republican primary.