Governor Chris Sununu has named a former district court judge who also worked as a prosecutor and public defender to lead New Hampshire's adult parole board.
Jennifer Sargent joined the parole board last month. On January 15, she'll succeed former House Speaker Donna Sytek as its chair.
The board typically meets a few days each month and holds close to 2000 individual hearings a year.
In a statement, Sununu said he was confident Sargent's varied experience will "help usher in a new era at the Parole Board."
In April, a state audit found significant problems at the parole board, including the absence of standardized rules and written policies to ensure the board and its staff were following state law.
Sargent is presently a visiting Associate Professor of Writing at Dartmouth College. She's also served as chief prosecutor for the state in attorney discipline cases, worked on true crime television shows, and is what her resume terms "legal content advisor" to novelist Jodi Picoult.
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