CITY PROSECUTOR FACES DRUG CHARGES

MANCHESTER -- City prosecutor Kenneth Bernard, brother of an accused
murderer and brother and uncle of three murder victims, is charged with
three counts of possessing marijuana.

Bernard, 34, is free on $1,000 personal recognizance bail and is to be
arraigned on March 10 in Manchester District Court, where he prosecuted
individuals on violations and misdemeanors, including possession of marijuana.

Bernard is charged with possessing marijuana on Nov. 30 at his then-120
Huse Road home, and having it in his possession twice on Dec. 4, again at
his home. He has not been on the job since Dec. 4, when he was placed on
paid administrative leave by the city Solicitor's Office. On Tuesday, he
turned himself in to police, who had obtained a warrant for his arrest.

The investigation began Nov. 30 when Bernard's wife, Donna, called police.
She directed officers to the top left drawer of a bureau in the master
bedroom, where they found a bag of marijuana, Sgt. Richard Charbonneau
wrote in an affidavit.

She then escorted the officers to the basement and showed them a partly
burned marijuana cigarette left on a shelf.

The Bernards are in the process of getting a divorce. Last October,
however, Mrs. Bernard asked the court to put the divorce proceedings on
hold because of several deaths in the family.

On Oct. 4, Bernard's sister, Trisha Doyle, 30, of Hooksett and her
children, Gillian, 4 and James, 2, were found stabbed to death in the home
of Christopher M. Bernard, 35, of 61 Johnson St.

Christopher M. Bernard is Kenneth Bernard's and Doyle's brother.
Christopher Bernard is charged with three counts of first-degree and
remains detained in the Valley Street jail.

A Hillsborough County grand jury has yet to indict him on the charges.

City Solicitor Tom Clark yesterday said he had no comment to make
concerning Kenneth Bernard.

Attorney Emile J. Bussiere Jr., who represents Bernard, said his client
does not want to try the case in the newspaper.

"However, what I can tell you is that the facts you are reporting on are
coming from one side only -- and that's not my client's side. Once both
sides have had the opportunity to present the matter to the court, as I
told you before, we remain confident Mr. Bernard will be clear of all the
charges they have brought."

According to Charbonneau's affidavit, police found Bernard's fingerprint on
a bag containing marijuana, and a urine sample he provided tested positive
for marijuana at the New Hampshire State Laboratory.

Mrs. Bernard told Officer Anthony Battistelli that Bernard smokes two
joints a night on the weekdays and four on each day of the weekend ,
according to court documents. She said Bernard purchases "approximately 1/3
of a baggy of marijuana a week," according to Charbonneau's affidavit.

Mrs. Bernard also told the officers she smoked marijuana with her husband
in the past.

Later on Nov. 30, detectives spoke to Bernard, who denied any knowledge of
the marijuana and said if there was marijuana in his dresser, someone had
to plant it there.

Dectective Sean Leighton asked Bernard what would happen if he took a blood
test, and Bernard said he would pass it with flying colors. Asked if he
would voluntarily submit to a blood test, Bernard said, "No," Charbonneau
wrote.

The detectives also asked Bernard if he had smoked marijuana within the
last 30 days and, Charbonneau wrote, Bernard began to stammer before saying
he last smoked it in law school in 1995 or 1996.

When Mrs. Bernard was interviewed again by police on Dec. 3, she explained
that while they were getting divorced, her husband would not move out of
their Huse Road home for financial reasons. She and the couple's three
children had been staying with family in Candia.

She said she found the marijuana in Bernard's sock drawer on Nov. 29 when
she stopped at the house to pick up some personal belongings and was
putting some laundry away. Mrs. Bernard told the detectives that after
seeing the marijuana she became more concerned with Bernard's ability to
care for their children.

She said she video-recorded the condition of the house as well as the
marijuana and then called her divorce attorney. She called police the next
day. On Dec. 4, police executed the search warrants of Bernard's home, his
garbage and of him.