A New Ipswich woman is being held on $150,000 cash bail after she tried to hire a hit man to kill the wife of a Manchester attorney who had represented her, the police said.

Katherine Mendola, 27, of 53A Oak Hill Road, told her roommate that she wanted to kill Wendy Branch of Northwood so she could continue a romantic relationship with Branch's husband, Bartram "B.J." Branch, according to police reports. Friends and family of the Branches say Mendola was obsessed with B.J. Branch but that no affair occurred between them.

Mendola's roommate reported the matter to the police, who had an undercover state trooper pose as a hit man, according to a police affidavit. Mendola paid the trooper $1,000, showed him where the Branches live and promised to pay him an additional $3,000 to shoot Wendy Branch in the head and make it look like a hunting accident, according to the affidavit.

Mendola was arrested Nov. 21 and charged with criminal solicitation, a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison upon conviction. A Rockingham County grand jury will decide whether to indict Mendola in the coming weeks.

Mendola's roommate contacted the state police in November. Mendola had asked him since August to find someone to kill Wendy Branch, even flashing the $1,000 she planned to use to help pay for the job, according to a police affidavit. Mendola told her roommate that she had been having a romantic relationship with B.J. Branch - a lawyer with Backus, Meyer, Solomon & Branch in Manchester - for some time, the affidavit says. She wanted to kill Wendy Branch so that they could be together, according to the affidavit.

The roommate told Mendola he had a Mafia connection in Massachusetts who would accept the job. But it was an undercover trooper who called Mendola, according to the affidavit. The police were listening in when Mendola told the trooper that she still wanted Wendy Branch dead.

On Nov. 19, the undercover trooper, equipped with audio and video recording equipment, met with Mendola in Manchester. Mendola rode in the trooper's vehicle and directed him to the Branches' home in Northwood. As they drove, Mendola told the trooper that she wanted him to shoot Wendy Branch in the head, but to make it look like a hunting accident, according to the affidavit. She paid him $1,000 and agreed to give him $3,000 more once she and B.J. Branch were together, according to the affidavit. Mendola also asked him to give her about a week's notice so that she could buy a flight out of the area when the shooting took place.

Richard Aho, who owns the duplex where Mendola and her roommate lived, said Mendola had only lived in the apartment for a few months and said she didn't work.

"She was always complaining, saying everybody was doing her wrong," Aho said.

Mendola stated on a financial affidavit filed with the court that she had no money on hand, no income and no employer. The court assigned her a public defender, Joseph Malfitani, who did not return a call for comment yesterday.

Mendola's roommate called Aho a few weeks ago to say that Mendola was no longer living there, Aho said. The roommate, whom the police have not named, did not return a call seeking comment.

Jon Meyer, a lawyer who works with B.J. Branch, said that Branch represented Mendola in a civil matter that had concluded but that their relationship was strictly professional. Meyer said he could not discuss details of the case, citing attorney-client privilege.

Branch has worked at the firm since 1986 and specializes in personal injury, workers' compensation and medical malpractice suits, Meyer said.

Wendy Branch is deputy clerk at the Hillsborough County Superior Court North in Manchester. Her sister, Leslie Nixon, a Manchester attorney, also disputed the allegation that her brother-in-law had an affair with Mendola.

The police are providing protection for B.J. and Wendy Branch, said Assistant Rockingham County Attorney Tom Reid. He said the affair allegations came from Mendola's roommate, who reported what she had told him to the police. Reid said he could not offer more information because the investigation is not complete.

Single page