CONCORD, N.H. — The state Supreme Court yesterday threw out several convictions of a Newburyport surgeon tied to Seabrook's Bayview Crematorium scandal.
The high court found death certificates do not have the legal protection that prosecutors alleged. The court tossed out a total of nine counts of fraudulent handling of recordable writing and a single charge of theft by unauthorized taking against Putnam Breed, 71, a longtime Anna Jaques Hospital surgeon who has residences in North Hampton and Amesbury.
The justices upheld two felony convictions of theft by deception.
Breed has been free on bail since he was sentenced July 18, 2007, to six months in jail. Rockingham Superior Court Judge Tina Nadeau handed down a one-year jail sentence, with half of it suspended.
Defense lawyers now have 10 days to decide whether they will ask the N.H. Supreme Court to consider its decision on the convictions it upheld.
"We're very gratified that the Supreme Court recognized the fundamental flaws in the great majority of indictments brought against Dr. Breed," defense lawyer Christopher Carter said yesterday. "And we are evaluating what steps we will take, if any, with respect to the two charges that were affirmed."
Carter was hired by Breed after a Rockingham County jury convicted him on all 12 charges.
The jury sat through a six-day trial during which prosecutors said Breed was among five people who participated in a scheme of bogus paperwork at the crematorium to maximize the volume of bodies and profits.
The majority of charges accused Breed of fraudulently signing cremation certificates. By signing the certificates, Breed verified he inspected bodies before they were cremated, something prosecutors say he did not do.
The Supreme Court justices concluded the law used by prosecutors to try Breed on the fraudulent handling charges was vague and largely concerned wills, deeds and mortgages.
"Cremation certificates, on the other hand, do not concern property interests and do not involve a similar need for public notice," the justices wrote in their unanimous decision.
After the arrest of five people connected to Bayview in July 2005, prosecutors complained that laws governing crematoriums were left incomplete by the Legislature and state Department of Health and Human Services in the 1990s.
Prosecutors could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Breed worked as a Massachusetts medical examiner and was the lead surgeon at Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport at the time of his arrest. He had to give up both positions and surrender his medical license in the wake of his trial.
Breed was one of five people convicted in connection with Bayview's business practices.
Bayview's former owner, Derek Wallace, 38, of Salisbury, is serving a one-and-a-half to three-year prison term for making false tax returns. He paid $240,000 in business taxes as part of his plea deal with prosecutors. He is eligible for parole in August.
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