The state Supreme Court agreed Thursday with Ernest Solomon that starting a new trial with a new judge would amount to double jeopardy.

The 40-year-old was charged with three charges of assaulting a 15-year-old boy by whipping him on the legs with a belt as punishment.

His original trial ended when Derry District Court Judge John Coughlin volunteered to serve in Iraq as a judge-advocate with the National Guard.

The Supreme Court said a new trial would have been constitutional if the original judge had died or there had been a hung jury.

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