The consecutive sentences followed New Hampshire’s first successful murder prosecution involving the death of a fetus under its fetal homicide law.

OSSIPEE, N.H. — A New Hampshire man convicted of murdering his pregnant girlfriend and her nearly full-term unborn child has been sentenced to two consecutive terms of 40 years to life, leaving him with an aggregate prison sentence of 80 years to life for the December 2023 killings.

Carroll County Superior Court Judge Mark D. Attorri sentenced William Kelly, 40, after a jury found him guilty July 9 of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 33-year-old Christine Falzone and her unborn child. Prosecutors said Kelly assaulted Falzone inside the couple’s Ossipee residence on Dec. 17, 2023, causing injuries that killed her and the child she was carrying. The case also became the first successful prosecution under New Hampshire law allowing a separate murder charge when a fetus at or beyond the statutory stage of pregnancy is unlawfully killed.

The structure of the sentence was as significant as its length. Attorri imposed 40 years to life for Falzone’s murder and another 40 years to life for the murder of her unborn child, ordering the terms to run one after the other instead of at the same time. The defense had sought a substantially shorter total sentence. Attorri rejected the request for greater leniency, saying the mercy being requested would have to come from an authority greater than the court. Prosecutors said after the hearing that the consecutive terms reflected the jury’s findings that two deaths resulted from Kelly’s actions.

The sentencing hearing returned attention to the violence Falzone suffered. Prosecutors told the court that she had about 100 bruises, five fractured ribs and internal bleeding involving her head and abdomen. Falzone was visibly pregnant and was between 35 and 37 weeks into her pregnancy, according to the state medical examiner’s findings. The child was nearly full term. Reports from the sentencing identified the baby as a daughter whom Falzone’s family expected to be named Jules. The evidence of Falzone’s injuries became a central part of the state’s argument for consecutive prison terms.

Authorities were first called to the couple’s Water Village Road residence at about 11:44 a.m. on Dec. 17, 2023, after a 911 report that a woman was unconscious and not breathing. Officers and paramedics found Falzone with multiple injuries, and she was pronounced dead. Kelly was also at the property and was taken into custody. A probable cause statement later cited in news reports said Kelly initially told responding officers that Falzone had fallen, an explanation that prosecutors said did not account for the injuries documented during the investigation and presented during the case.

An autopsy was conducted the following day. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Mitchell Weinberg determined that Falzone had been approximately 35 to 37 weeks pregnant. As the investigation developed, authorities pursued not only a homicide charge involving Falzone but also a second murder charge for the death of the fetus. Kelly later pleaded not guilty to both second-degree murder counts. At the time the charges were filed, state officials described the prosecution as the first of its kind under New Hampshire’s fetal homicide provisions.

The case did not move in a straight line to the July 2026 verdict. Kelly first went to trial in November 2025, but Judge Attorri declared a mistrial after the defense raised concerns that Kelly’s constitutional rights had been violated. Reports from the proceedings said the issue involved his right to remain silent and evidence connected to police interactions at the scene. The ruling did not end the prosecution. The state announced that it would try the case again, and a second trial was eventually held in Carroll County Superior Court.

That second jury returned guilty verdicts on July 9, 2026. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said evidence at trial established that Kelly assaulted Falzone inside the home and inflicted the injuries that resulted in both deaths. The verdict gave the state its first conviction under the fetal homicide framework. Attorney General John M. Formella said afterward that domestic violence can have devastating and irreversible consequences and thanked investigators, prosecutors and the jury for their work on the case.

The law at the center of the prosecution expanded New Hampshire homicide statutes so an unlawful killing can support a separate homicide charge for a fetus beginning at the end of the 20th week after conception. The change took effect in 2018. Falzone’s pregnancy, estimated at 35 to 37 weeks, placed her unborn child well beyond that threshold. Before the change, New Hampshire law provided a different and less severe criminal framework for certain conduct resulting in the death of a fetus. Kelly’s case therefore became a test of how the amended homicide provisions would operate in a murder prosecution.

At sentencing, however, the legal precedent shared the courtroom with the personal consequences of the crime. Members of Falzone’s family spoke about the person they had lost rather than only the facts recited in court records. Her aunt, Tiffany Marcos, described Falzone as spirited and drawn to the outdoors and said she had dreamed of becoming a storm chaser. Family members spoke about her plans, her personality and the daughter she was expecting. Their statements emphasized that the case represented the loss of a woman with a life beyond the evidence presented during two murder trials.

Prosecutors also focused on what they described as Kelly’s effort to redirect responsibility when emergency personnel arrived. At the sentencing hearing, the state argued that his initial account cast Falzone as responsible for what had happened to her. The prosecution contrasted that account with the physical evidence, including the number and distribution of her injuries. The state argued that the severity of the assault and Kelly’s knowledge that Falzone was pregnant warranted separate, lengthy punishment for each second-degree murder conviction.

The defense urged the court to leave open at least some possibility that Kelly could someday be released after serving decades in prison. Attorri ultimately concluded that the two deaths required separate punishment. Although second-degree murder does not carry the same sentencing structure as first-degree murder, the consecutive 40-years-to-life terms mean Kelly must serve the minimum portion of the first sentence before the minimum term on the second can be completed, subject to applicable state sentencing and corrections rules.

The August sentencing brought the trial-level proceedings to their most significant conclusion nearly three years after Falzone’s death. Kelly remains convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and faces an aggregate sentence of 80 years to life. The convictions also stand as New Hampshire’s first successful use of its fetal homicide law in a murder case, connecting the punishment imposed for Falzone’s killing with a separate sentence for the death of the child she was carrying.

Author note: Last updated Sept. 21, 2026.