Dec. 6—NASHUA — A person with a judge-like role in the New Hampshire courts will continue to hear a long-running family-court case, despite muttering a vulgar expression under his breath during a contested hearing, the courts have ruled.
Bruce DalPra, the marital master who works out of Nashua Circuit Court, muttered "who the f*** cares" during a November 2020 telephonic hearing.
He did so while the ex-husband in a divorce case in its fifth year was speaking about issues off topic, something he often did, according to a New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling.
The Supreme Court ruled that DalPra and the judge who oversees him — Circuit Court Judge John Curran — had to address concerns of bias raised by the ex-husband in the case, Hollis resident Dana Albrecht.
Late last month, DalPra decided he can remain on the case, and Curran agreed; his muttering was not a sign of bias, according to a court order signed by both.
The state of New Hampshire has two marital masters. They sit like a judge and make recommendations that are then reviewed by a judge. DalPra, who works at the Nashua Circuit Court, has been on the job for 30 years and currently earns $158,500 a year.
Albrecht is part of a group of divorced parents who have been monitoring the Nashua courts after the resignation and November conviction of Judge Julie Introcaso on document tampering and unsworn falsification charges.
Albrecht said his case has been in front of two convicted judges — Introcaso and former judge Paul Moore, who was convicted on felony charges in 2018 for lying on his application for a disability pension.
"It's all about public confidence in the judiciary, and we don't have it," Albrecht said.
According to the rulings in the case, Albrecht learned about the muttering when reviewing DalPra's file with the Judicial Conduct Committee. DalPra had reported himself.
"During (defendant's) testimony he began speaking of issues that were not relevant to the issues to be decided-something he often did. Under my breath I uttered a comment that contained a vulgar expression: 'who the f*** cares,'" according to his self-report.
It was a telephonic hearing and Albrecht has said he never heard it.
The JCC found no fault with DalPra. But Albrecht filed challenges that faulted DalPra for going ahead with the matter — a domestic violence petition — without disclosing his statement.
Court rules say a judge must disqualify for reasons of personal bias, economic interests or personal association with lawyers or parties in a case.
In his decision to remain on the case, DalPra said the only allegation of bias was the who-cares statement.
"It is a statement that was not intended to be heard, but nonetheless arose during trial as a result of the parties' presentation during trial," he wrote.
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