Editor’s note: All sexual assault charges against former Concord psychologist Foad Afshar, who was accused of molesting a patient, were dropped by the Merrimack County Attorney’s Office in October 2018.
A former Concord child psychologist convicted of molesting a 12-year-old boy is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn his conviction.
Foad Afshar is also seeking a new trial in Merrimack County Superior Court, claiming ineffective counsel.
But Afshar’s appeal is not purely self-motivated, his appellate attorney said. The verdict in the case had broader implications: It sent a chill through the psychological community, which Afshar hopes to help heal, said defense attorney Ted Lothstein.
“Dr. Afshar’s cause is a worthy and important cause, not just for the good of Dr. Afshar and his family, but to make sure that other therapists are not deterred from working with troubled children and teenagers out of fear that the justice system will fail to protect them from wrongful accusations in the future,” Lothstein said.
Afshar, 56, of Bow, was sentenced last month to three to six years in prison for touching a young patient’s genitals during a session on Jan. 6, 2015. He is incarcerated at the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility in Berlin.
A Merrimack County jury convicted him in June of one felony count of aggravated sexual assault and an alternative misdemeanor count of simple assault, as well as two counts of unlawful mental health practice, both misdemeanors.
To this day, Afshar maintains his innocence.
Michael Kandle, a psychologist and longtime friend of Afshar’s, said Thursday the case has prompted the psychological community to examine “how, and if, we can protect ourselves.”
For a person to be convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault in New Hampshire, prosecutors do not need to present any proof of corroboration – meaning evidence that confirms or supports the victim’s story.
Kandle created a website in August titled “Justice for Foad,” which he hopes will foster communication on the law, as well as serve as a place where people can go to learn about Afshar’s case and offer their support.
“It’s so incompatible with what he is and who he is. He’s a healer,” Kandle said of Afshar and the conviction.
Dozens of former clients, family members and professional colleagues of Afshar attended his sentencing hearing Aug. 26 in Concord. Judge Diane Nicolosi took note of them when issuing her decision, saying in her 30-year career she had never seen so many people in a courtroom in support of a defendant.
Kandle said he doesn’t expect the support for Afshar to wane during the appeal process – if anything, it may grow.
Lothstein raises 18 questions in the appeal filed on behalf of Afshar in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Several questions concern testimony that the defense says was wrongfully precluded or limited during the trial. That includes the court’s decision not to allow testimony from two potential expert witnesses and from a school counselor who the boy told “a story inconsistent with the story told at trial.”
On similar grounds, Lothstein alleges that the boy’s testimony was unreliable and that “the timing of his disclosure suggested a motive to fabricate.”
Lothstein also disagrees with the court’s decision not to allow Afshar to testify about concerns that arose while treating the boy. Afshar could also not tell the jury why he sent an email to the boy’s father, requesting to talk about why the child wanted to terminate therapy sessions.
When the claim surfaced in 2015, Afshar speculated that the boy may have made it up to stop the therapy sessions. Afshar said from the witness stand that the child was known to lie, and that his father had acknowledged as much at the start of treatment.
Assistant Merrimack County Attorney Joseph Cherniske, who prosecuted Afshar, did not return a call for comment Thursday. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Fuller, who is prosecuting the case on appeal, could also not be reached.
(Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319, adandrea@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @_ADandrea.)