Buskey Trial Canceled When Prosecutor Veers Off Track

By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepth NH

MANCHESTER, NH — Accused Sununu Youth Services Center, also known as YDC, sexual predator Jeffrey Buskey remains free after this week’s mistrial ended his trial on 21 counts of sexual assault.

Buskey’s reprieve is the result of repeated errors by Assistant Attorney General Audriana Mekula, according to a source close to the case.

Mekula twice asked alleged victim David Meehan questions that resulted in Meehan answering with details about other sexual assaults he suffered inside YDC. Hillsborough Superior Court Judge William Delker previously ruled that prosecutors could not introduce evidence of sexual assaults other than the ones Buskey, 60, of Litchfield is charged with for the trial.

After the first misstep, Mekula was admonished by Delker, but he allowed the case to continue despite defense calls for a mistrial. But later, Meluka asked Meehan if an alleged rape by Buskey was the first time Meehan had been raped as a child inside YDC. Meehan answered it was not the first rape, and that a different YDC staffer had raped him prior to the alleged Buskey rape. At that point, Delker shut down the trial.

The state has not yet committed to bringing the charges back for a new trial.

“In this instance, the judge determined that certain evidence should not have been heard by the jury and concluded that the issue could not be adequately addressed through an instruction to disregard that evidence. As a result, the judge declared a mistrial. The State retains the option to pursue the charges again and will review its options moving forward,” Department of Justice Communications Director Michael Garrity said in an email.

Buskey and other YDC staffers allegedly committed hundreds of assaults on Meehan during the late 1990s, according to Meehan’s previous testimony during a civil trial. Buskey has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Meehan is the only YDC survivor to so far get a civil trial, out of about 1,500 lawsuits brought against the state. The jury in the civil trial awarded Meehan $38 million in damages after listening to weeks of testimony, including Meehan’s.

The state is currently trying to get the verdict downgraded to $475,000. A New Hampshire State Supreme Court ruling on the state’s appeal is pending.

Buskey went to work for the Sanbornton Police Department after his time working at YDC. He ended up getting fired from Sanbornton after an internal investigation found he bounced a personal check meant to repay a loan to a local business owner, and then he lied about it to his superiors. InDepthNH.org was forced to go to court to get the police records released by Sanbornton after Buskey tried to keep his personnel files hidden.

Buskey somehow managed to stay off New Hampshire’s Exculpatory Evidence Schedule, though the reason for the termination seems to create doubt about his credibility as a witness. The EES is the state’s list of officers who may not be credible witnesses and whose personnel records need to be disclosed to defense attorneys because the information is favorable to the defendant.

This story was originally published by InDepth NH.