A Supreme Court justice, perhaps more so than any other judge, is expected to closely abide by the laws and set a good example for all others to follow, though that isn't always the case.

On Wednesday, New Hampshire Supreme Court Associate Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi was criminally indicted by the state's attorney general for allegedly attempting to interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation of her husband, The Hill reported.

The justice, who has been on administrative leave from the bench since July, now faces the prospect of spending up to nearly two decades behind bars if she is convicted on all of the two felonies and five misdemeanors she's been charged with.

Sitting justice criminally indicted

On Wednesday, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella issued a press release to announce the criminal indictment against Justice Hantz Marconi that had been handed down by a Merrimack County grand jury.

"No person is above the law, and the evidence in this case required investigation and presentation to the grand jury," Formella said in a statement. "The decision to charge a sitting Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court was not made lightly, and it comes after careful and thoughtful deliberation. It is my hope that the public will be reassured that all individuals, including public officials, are treated equally under the law."

The two Class B felony counts against Hantz Marconi include one count each of Attempt to Commit Improper Influence and Criminal Solicitation of Improper Influence. She also faces five Class A misdemeanors that include two counts of Criminal Solicitation of Misuse of Position and one count each of Criminal Solicitation of Official Oppression, Official Oppression, and Obstructing Government Administration."

If convicted, the justice faces a potential sentence of 3.5 to 7 years in prison plus a $4,000 fine for each felony count, and for the misdemeanors, up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine for each count.

Justice's attorneys plan to fight back against criminal indictment

According to the Associated Press, Justice Hantz Marconi is alleged to have contacted New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and urged him to have an investigation of her husband, New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors Director Geno Marconi, "wrapped up quickly" because, in her view, it was based on "personal petty and/or political biases," the allegations had "no merit," and that the probe had resulted in her being recused from important pending cases.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a trio of attorneys representing the justice insisted that she was innocent of the charges against her and vowed to "fight" back against the criminal indictment.

"We will fight the charges to the fullest extent permitted by the law, starting with motions to dismiss the case which we anticipate filing soon," the attorneys said in a statement. "We intend to fight these wrongful accusations in court, where the fight should occur, and not in the media."

Husband was criminally indicted the next day

Interestingly enough, just one day after Justice Hantz Marconi was indicted, so too was her husband Geno, according to the New Hampshire Bulletin, after a Rockingham County grand jury charged him with two felonies and four misdemeanors.

Those felony charges include "witness tampering and falsifying physical evidence," while the misdemeanor charges involve two counts each of "violating the driver privacy act" and "obstructing government administration."

The full context of Marconi's alleged crimes is unclear, per the Bulletin, but the indictment claims that he illegally provided confidential motor vehicle records information about one person to another and then attempted to cover up that deed by deleting voicemails from his phone once he believed that an investigation had been launched.

Indicted alongside Marconi was the Ports and Harbors Advisory Council Chairman Bradley Cook, who faces one felony count of perjury and two misdemeanor counts of false swearing. He is alleged to have lied to investigators by claiming that he did not receive the confidential information provided to him by Marconi "related to the pier use permit" of an unnamed individual.