Ex-sheriff ‘begs' for mercy as N.H. court weighs whether to imprison him for perjury
Prosecutors have asked that Brave, 39, receive a total prison term of seven to 14 years for two counts of perjury. That would be in addition to his suspended sentence for theft by deception and falsifying physical evidence.
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Brave's defense attorney, however, has asked for a fully suspended sentence on all four charges, which would allow Brave to avoid prison time if he stays out of trouble.
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'It would be unjust for Mr. Brave to receive a disproportionately harsh sentence simply because of the high-profile nature of his case,' defense attorney Leif A. Becker wrote in a pre-sentencing memo.
Brave has struggled to find steady work and has suffered from 'extreme anxiety' over his potential incarceration and uncertainty about providing for his teenage daughter, Becker wrote, with a request for leniency.
'Mr. Brave begs the Court to accept his proposed sentence in mercy, and to consider his mitigating factors: his lack of criminal history, his acceptance of responsibility for his crimes, the negotiated consequences to his ability to seek future employment and the significant consequences he has already begun to suffer as a result of his actions,' Becker wrote.
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The prosecutors, Joe M. Fincham II and David M. Lovejoy from the New Hampshire Department of Justice, contend Brave was given multiple opportunities to accept responsibility but instead chose to keep lying.
In their pre-sentencing memo, Finacham and Lovejoy wrote that Brave had an long-established habit of deceit and lies that continued even when he faced questioning before a grand jury. That demonstrated 'contempt for the truth' and disregard for his oath as Strafford County sheriff, as he lied about 'virtually every aspect of his repeated thefts' and sometimes added newer lies to explain away discrepancies between his older lies, all in an effort to 'avoid and pervert the system of justice that he was sworn to uphold,' they wrote.
Brave had been indicted on 13 charges stemming from his conduct in 2022 and 2023, when he sought reimbursement for airfare, lodging, and meals for supposedly work-related trips to Florida, Maryland, and Boston, where prosecutors said he spent time with women other than his wife and then lied about it, altering receipts to cover his tracks.
Brave used county-issued credit cards to spend about $19,000 on extravagances that included vacations, luxury cruises, expensive dinners, and more, according to prosecutors. When submitting receipts to the county, he cited fraudulent justifications, including meetings and events he didn't actually attend, some of which never even existed.
Brave, a Democrat, claimed he traveled to the Washington, D.C., area for a planned meeting in 2023 with Representative Chris Pappas that the congressman canceled at the last minute, but the congressman's office said no such meeting was ever booked, according to prosecutors.
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Brave had, however, been dating a woman who lived in Maryland at the time. She began coming to New Hampshire later that year, then her relationship with Brave deteriorated, and she wound up filing a police report over his failure to repay $2,300 she had given him toward the purchase of a car that was never delivered, according to prosecutors.
Brave also recruited a childhood friend to work for the sheriff's office, then promoted her seven months later to a better-paying position that he created without approval from the Strafford County commissioners, according to prosecutors. He took his friend-turned-subordinate on a 'work trip' to meet with the Broward County Sheriff's Office in Florida and research how her new job would be structured, but when they arrived, he told her their meetings had been canceled. She was surprised to see their accommodations were one hotel room with a king-sized bed. (Both have denied sleeping together.)
County officials have said
Brave, who was elected in 2020 as the first Black sheriff in New Hampshire history, initially resisted calls to place himself on administrative leave, as he claimed to be the victim of a racist and politically motivated investigation. But, faced with an ultimatum, he
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Brave was
This criminal prosecution isn't the only trouble stemming from Brave's lack of candor. An internal investigation commissioned by county officials found
The plea deal calls for Brave to repay the nearly $19,000 he stole from taxpayers, surrender his policing certifications, and refrain from seeking or accepting any employment as a law enforcement officer in the future.
Steven Porter can be reached at
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