Court approves additional Clegg defense expert money

CONCORD, NH – Additional money for an expert defense witness was approved by Judge John Kissinger Friday, a month before Logan Clegg, charged with shooting a Concord couple to death, is scheduled to go to trial.

Clegg’s trial on charges of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Djeswende and Stephen Reid is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Monday, Oct. 2. A final pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Sept. 18.

Clegg’s defense attorneys earlier in the week made a motion for an additional $7,000 to pay for the services of Matthew Noedel, an expert on ballistics and crime scene reconstruction. The defense also objected to a state motion to limit some aspects of Noedel’s testimony.

Kissinger approved the defense request for the additional money Friday after hearings Tuesday and Wednesday in Merrimack County Superior Court. Overall, the court has approved $18,470 for Noedel’s defense services this year.

Noedel was hired by the defense team in February and last spring visited the crime scene, and has reviewed ballistics evidence, a major part of the state’s case against Clegg. The defense is particularly concerned about shell casings found at the scene of the shooting weeks after the Reids’ bodies were found.

The Reids were shot on April 18, 2022, while walking on the Broken Ground trails in northeast Concord off Loudon Road near their apartment. They were found April 21, 2022, dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

Noedel owns Noedel Scientific, in Washington State, specializing in forensic consultation and crime scene reconstruction and analysis. Before starting the business in 2005, he was a forensic scientist at the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory.

The request for additional money to pay for Noedel’s services was an ex parte request, meaning it’s solely for the benefit of the defense, and the state doesn’t weigh in on it.

In her motion, attorney Caroline Smith noted that $11,470 was approved for Noedel earlier this year, but more money is needed as Noedel “continues to review and analyze discovery in this matter and provide consultation with defense counsel.”

Because Clegg is indigent and is being represented by public defenders, he is entitled to request state funding to help his case under the U.S. Constitution rights to effective assistance of legal counsel and equal protection under the law, as well as the New Hampshire Constitution.

Clegg is charged with four counts (two sets of alternative counts) of second-degree murder, four charges of falsifying evidence and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was arrested in South Burlington, Vermont, on Oct. 12, one day before, police said, he was scheduled to fly out of New York on a one-way ticket to Berlin, Germany.

The investigation and evidence in the case – cellphone records and tracking, ballistics, witness identifications, and DNA – are complicated and have been the subject of several lengthy hearings over the course of the summer. The trial, initially scheduled for July, was postponed until October when it became clear sorting out the evidence, particularly the DNA, was going to take more time.

On Aug. 22, Kissinger ruled that the state can go forward with additional DNA testing, with the results required to be available to the defense by Sept. 15. He also approved any additional money the defense may need for experts to analyze the testing. Kissinger said he will rule on whether the additional DNA tests are admissible after that.

The defense had objected to the last-minute testing, saying whatever is being tested has been available to the state since last year. But prosecutors argued that vital evidence, including exculpatory, may be revealed through the tests.

Kissinger granted the additional testing, but reminded the state that since Clegg has asserted his right to a speedy trial, and the state has agreed, that it will weigh against the state if they seek to delay the scheduled October date.

Prosecutors have listed 89 possible witnesses in the case, including law enforcement, forensic experts, former coworkers of Clegg and others. The court has blocked off Oct. 3-20 for the trial, after jury selection on Oct. 2.

Clegg is being represented by Smith and Mariana Dominquez. Prosecutors are Joshua Speicher, Meghan Hagaman and Ryan Olberding, of the Office of the Attorney General.