NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, Supreme Court Building, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any editorial errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court's home page is:

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

___________________________

Hillsborough-southern judicial district

No. 2001-392

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

v.

MATTHEW GIFFORD

Argued: June 12, 2002
Opinion Issued: August 16, 2002

Philip T. McLaughlin, attorney general (David W. Ruoff, attorney, on the brief and orally), for the State.

David M. Rothstein, deputy chief appellate defender, of Concord, by brief and orally, for the defendant.

Nadeau, J. This is an interlocutory transfer without ruling from the Superior Court (Galway, J.). At issue is the criminal responsibility of a twenty-two-year-old defendant for acts allegedly committed when the defendant was thirteen years old. We hold that RSA 628:1 does not bar prosecution of the defendant and the certification requirement must be satisfied despite the language of RSA 169-B:4, VII.

The relevant facts follow. In November 2000, the defendant, Matthew Gifford, was indicted for aggravated felonious sexual assault, a crime he allegedly committed between August 1990 and May 1992 when he was between eleven and thirteen years old. The defendant filed a notice of immaturity defense and request for pretrial ruling. The superior court dismissed the indictments for the acts that allegedly occurred before the defendant