A New Ipswich budget advisory committee member has been found not guilty of simple assault in a criminal case that alleged he lifted the back of the town clerk’s shirt and made flirtatious comments to her at the town offices back in December.
Alan Doyle, 62, a member of the town’s budget advisory committee, was found not guilty of two counts of simple assault: physical contact or bodily injury by Judge David S. Forrest on Wednesday following a bench trial at the Jaffrey district court last week.
Forrest did not file any court documents giving insight into his final decision.
Doyle was accused of lifting New Ipswich Town Clerk/Tax Collector Jessica Olson’s shirt to expose her clothed “buttocks” on two separate occasions on Dec. 5 while Olson was working at the town hall. Doyle also was alleged to have made flirtatious comments to Olson on both occasions.
Both parties laid out their arguments during a trial at the Jaffrey district court on Oct. 18
Before testimony began, Doyle’s attorney Richard Lehmann motioned to dismiss both charges.
Lehmann said neither complaint filed in the case alleged a specific crime under the criminal code, as the complaints said Doyle touched a piece of Olson’s clothing.
He also argued that at least one charge should be thrown out because both complaints were nearly identical, listing the same time for each offense despite the prosecution’s argument that the two incidents happened at different times.
Marc Beaudoin, a Detective Sergeant at NH State Police Major Crime Unit, argued the case against Doyle and said that according to Olson she and Doyle had nothing more than a working relationship. Despite being a self-described “hugger,” Olson had in no way invited either interaction with Doyle on Dec. 5, she testified during the two-hour trial.
Olson said the two came into direct contact that day after she walked out of the clerks’s office to console a resident who had recently lost his wife. She said Doyle asked her to turn around and when she did he lifted up her shirt to expose part of her clothed butt, and said he was “peeking.”
Olson later left the office to make photocopies, which is when, she said, the second incident occurred. She said Doyle came down the hall, lifted her shirt to expose her entire clothed butt, and said he was “gawking” before leaving.
Doyle denied the first incident in question during the trial, and said Olson seemed agreeable to the second interaction as she smiled, giggled, and shook her butt as she walked away.
Doyle contrasted Olson’s telling of the interaction, saying he flicked the bottom of her shirt with two fingers, never exposing her butt or touching her body. He admitted to likely saying “woo woo” or something similar when flicking her shirt.
Lehmann spent much of his time trying to prove that Olson and Doyle had a more flirty relationship than she was letting on.
At one point, Lehmann took out a coconut bra – a memento from a prior pool party at Doyle’s residence that Olson, among others, had attended – to prove Olson’s flirtatious behavior.
Olson denied it, but some who spoke at the trial said Olson was one of many at the party to make light sexual innuendo about the bra at the party.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @nhandyMLT.