Attorney General Philip T. McLaughlin announces that the Grafton County Grand Jury has returned another indictment against Robert Tulloch charging him with conspiracy to commit murder. This indictment is a separate charge from the pending first degree murder indictments.

In April 2001, the grand jury returned indictments charging Robert Tulloch with first degree murder for purposely causing the deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop. On December 7, 2001, James Parker pled guilty to accomplice to second degree murder. As part of his plea agreement, James Parker is required to provide the State of New Hampshire with a complete and truthful account of the circumstances leading up to the January 27, 2001 murders of the Zantops. On December 21, 2001, the Grafton County Grand Jury returned two alternative first degree murder indictments charging Robert Tulloch with knowingly causing the deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop while engaged in the commission of a robbery at 115 Trescott Road.

On February 15, 2002, the Grafton County Grand Jury returned a new indictment charging Robert Tulloch with conspiracy to commit murder. In order to support a guilty verdict at trial on this new charge, the State must prove that Robert Tulloch entered into an agreement with James Parker to commit murder, and that they carried out certain overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy. The new charge lists 15 overt acts allegedly carried out by Robert Tulloch and James Parker in which they approached houses in Vermont and New Hampshire. The State alleges that these acts were pursued in furtherance of the conspiracy. The State will seek to consolidate the new indictment with the pending first degree murder charges.

Under New Hampshire law, after a conviction, the sentence for first degree murder is mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. The sentence for conspiracy to commit murder is 15-30 years incarceration. The new indictment is available for distribution as a matter of public record at the Grafton County Superior Court. The State will not make further comment on the charge and no press conferences are scheduled.