No prison sentence in death-related assault

Mark Hayward, The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
·1 min read

Jun. 22—Initially facing charges of negligent homicide, a one-time Manchester homeless man pleaded guilty to second-degree assault Tuesday in connection with the September 2019 death of another man.

Daniel Samarai, 46, appeared in Hillsborough County Superior Court, where he received a suspended prison sentence and two years probation for the assault that preceded the death of Robert Lachance.

Lachance was cleaning up the parking lot behind the Family Place Resource Center, a Lake Avenue shelter operated by Families in Transition, when he threw away milk crates that Samaria had been sitting on.

Samaria initially faced 10 charges, including negligent homicide, manslaughter, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless conduct.

In the days after Lachance's death, prosecutors said that Samaria, who had been living at the shelter, sucker-punched Lachance, causing him to fall and strike his head. Doctors removed life support two days later.

But video surveillance from a nearby social club, Club Pericles, was unclear about whether Samaria punched or merely pushed Lachance, said Shawn Sweeney, the first assistant for Hillsborough County Attorney John Coughlin.

"Although the outcome (of the confrontation) was tragic, it certainly was not foreseeable and certainly not expected," Sweeney said.

Samaria spent a year and four months in jail awaiting trial. In January, a judge ordered Samaria released from Valley Street jail, ruling that the lack of protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic hampered Samaria's ability to prepare for trial.