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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, One Charles Doe Drive, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any editorial errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Errors may be reported by E-mail at the following address: reporter@courts.state.nh.us. 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: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme. THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ___________________________ Rockingham No. 2010-017 THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE v. ADAM MENTUS Argued: September 15, 2011 Opinion Issued: December 14, 2011 Michael A. Delaney, attorney general (Nicholas Cort, assistant attorney general, on the brief and orally), for the State. Stephanie Hausman, assistant appellate defender, of Concord, on the brief and orally, for the defendant. DUGGAN, J. The defendant, Adam Mentus, appeals his conviction of manslaughter, see RSA 630:2 (2007), following a jury trial in Superior Court (Lewis, J.). We affirm. The jury could have found the following facts. On June 26, 2008, the defendant drove with his friend, Nathan Caron, to State Line Ammo in Plaistow, where Caron bought a Lorcin L380 handgun. The two then returned to Caron's house, where Anthony Palla joined them.

Eventually, the defendant left Caron's house and took the Lorcin to his house to show his brother. In the meantime, Deirdre Budzyna and Christina Sorrentino went to Caron's house. Upon their arrival, Caron left to go shopping, and, approximately ten minutes later, the defendant returned to Caron's house. Budzyna, Sorrentino, Palla and the defendant decided to go to a sandpit in Hampstead to fire the Lorcin. Budzyna agreed to drive. Before they left, the defendant put a full clip of ammunition in the Lorcin and took additional ammunition from Caron's room. The defendant put the Lorcin into his left pocket. Budzyna got into the driver's seat and the defendant sat behind her. Moments later, the defendant reached into his pocket and retrieved the Lorcin. As he held the gun in his right hand, it fired. The bullet traveled through the back of the driver's seat and punctured Budzyna's left lung. Budzyna said "Adam," slammed the car into park and got out. The defendant helped her into Caron's house, where she collapsed on the floor. The defendant called 911. An ambulance arrived later and took her to the hospital, where she died. After the shooting, the police questioned the defendant. He told them that after he sat down in the car, he wanted to put the gun under his seat, so he took the gun out of his left pocket, transferred it to his right hand, and, when he was bending down to place it on the floor, it fired. He also said that "[his] finger hit the trigger," that his finger was on the trigger or in the trigger guard area, and that he did not know whether there was a round in the chamber when the gun fired. At trial, he said that his finger was not in the trigger guard area and that he did not put his finger on the trigger. However, he also testified, "I might have hit the trigger. I might have hit the slide, but . . . I did not pull that trigger." On appeal, the defendant argues that the trial court erred: (1) by providing him with only $1,200 of the $3,000 he requested to hire a firearms expert, see RSA 604-A:6 (Supp. 2005); and (2) by overruling his objection to the State's closing argument. Prior to trial, pursuant to RSA 604-A:6, the defendant requested $3,000 from the court to hire Gregory Danas, a firearms expert, to examine the Lorcin. The defendant argued that he needed an expert to support his theory that the gun had fired without him pulling the trigger

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