DOVER, N.H. (AP) – More complaints are surfacing against a Rockingham County judge accused of sleeping on the job.

A Derry woman on Thursday sent new complaints to the state Judicial Conduct Committee, which is investigating allegations that Superior Court Judge Patricia Coffey napped through a sexual assault trial and other proceedings.

Shayla Savageau told the Portsmouth Herald that during a sentencing hearing for her fiance, she saw Coffey’s eyes fluttering as the judge appeared to be “fighting to stay awake.”

Savageau’s fiance appeared before Coffey for a negotiated plea on charges of driving while intoxicated, being a habitual offender and leaving the scene of an accident.

“The best way I could describe this is that she was nodding off,” she said. “I’m not doing this to get him out. I just don’t think she should be a judge.”

The paper did not give the fiance’s name or his hearing date.

Savageau said she hand-delivered her complaints to an assistant for Anthony McManus, the committee’s executive secretary, in hopes they would be taken up during a meeting scheduled Friday to review Coffey’s case.

She did not receive a response as of late Friday.

Coffey has denied all previous allegations of sleeping in court.

In a letter sent to the committee earlier this month, she said a judge, or anyone in a courtroom, might close their eyes to concentrate, block distractions, stave off a headache, or mask potential reaction to shocking or unpleasant evidence.

“It is unimaginable to me that such actions on my part would be perceived as sleep, especially in a case where I was actively involved in admitting exhibits and ruling on objections every few minutes,” she wrote.

The letter was a response to complaints filed by Melissa Spinner of Dover, whose husband, Donald Spinner, last year was convicted on six counts of sexual assault in a jury trial before Coffey.

Melissa Spinner publicized a questionnaire in which two of the seven jurors said they had seen Coffey doze off during the trial, prompting others to step forward with similar complaints.

Jeffrey Carano of Epping claimed he saw Coffey “out cold” in the courtroom. Teri Eldridge of Exeter said she also saw Coffey sleeping in court.

—

Information from: Portsmouth Herald, http://www.seacoastonline.com

AP-ES-02-18-06 1520EST