The New Hampshire Department of Justice says an irregular series of personnel maneuvers involving a longtime colleague of the state’s top judge didn’t violate any criminal laws.

But the chain of events which allowed Dianne Martin — former chief of staff to Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald — to cash out approximately $50,000 in unused sick and vacation time following a 48-hour layoff does appear to have violated the Judicial Branch’s personnel procedures.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella announced Tuesday the completion of a review into the payouts, concluding that “there is no reasonable suspicion to believe that further investigation would uncover actionable criminal conduct.”

The attorney general’s review was prompted by an investigation published by NHPR l

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