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Details about N.H. murder victim’s sexual history to remain sealed

This undated family photo shows Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott. AP Photo/Britney Atwood

The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that legal filings related to the sexual history of a 19-year-old woman who was raped and murdered in 2012 will remain sealed while her convicted killer pursues an appeal.

But the court also ruled that oral arguments in 33-year-old Seth Mazzaglia’s appeal will be open to the public, as he challenges his 2014 conviction for the brutal strangulation and rape two years earlier of Lizzi Marriott, who grew up in Westborough, Mass. and attended college at the University of New Hampshire.

Neither Attorney General Joseph Foster’s office nor Mazzaglia’s public defender, Christopher Johnson, could be reached for comment Thursday night.

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Prosecutors had sought to keep the filings sealed and oral arguments closed to the public, writing in a legal brief that open proceedings would eviscerate “a sexual assault victim’s privacy rights and expectations” and have “a profound chilling effect” on future victims coming forward.

Johnson had argued in a separate brief that “a secret appellate process resulting in the affirmance of Mazzaglia’s convictions will not involve the same systemic assurances of quality.”

The New Hampshire high court in June had ordered that details of Marriott’s alleged past be unsealed, an action that infuriated her family and advocates for sexual assault victims. But the order was stayed at the request of state prosecutors, and oral arguments on the matter were held last week.

On Thursday, the court did not explain its decision in detail, except to say that after considering “the oral arguments, briefs, and the applicable law, we hereby order that the records sealed by the trial court shall remain sealed and that the parties’ unredacted appellate briefs and appendices shall remain confidential.”

Further arguments in Mazzaglia’s direct appeal of his conviction will be held at a later date and open to the public, according to the order.

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At trial, Mazzaglia’s lawyer argued unsuccessfully that Marriott was a willing sexual partner who died of accidental smothering in an apartment in Dover, N.H. In a hearing in the trial judge’s chambers, the defense wanted to introduce stories about Marriott’s past that might bolster Mazzaglia’s claim. The judge ruled that allegations about her sexual history were irrelevant and protected. A jury convicted Mazzaglia in August 2014. He is serving a life sentence.


Eric Moskowitz of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.