The legal dispute stems from two separate incidents reported over the past two years.
According to The Globe, Read was first cited after authorities allegedly recorded her driving 107 miles per hour in a 65-mph zone along Interstate 93 in December 2024. Months later, she received another speeding citation after allegedly traveling 92 mph on the same stretch of highway in June 2025.
Rather than simply paying the fines or challenging the evidence surrounding the alleged speeding violations, Read has centered her legal defense on the New Hampshire Constitution’s legislative immunity provision. Her argument contends that lawmakers cannot be arrested or charged while traveling to or from legislative sessions.
Court filings also reveal another unusual aspect of her defense.
Read reportedly compared legislators to emergency personnel such as police officers and EMTs, suggesting elected officials should receive similar protection from routine traffic enforcement while carrying out their official responsibilities. However, no public explanation has been provided identifying any emergency that would have required the alleged high-speed driving.
The Daily Mail reported:
Still, Read complained that the charge was equivalent to an arrest even though she was not taken into custody. She argued that it violated the New Hampshire Constitution as she was a legislator traveling from the capital.
[…]
Her attorney, former fellow state lawmaker Daniel Hynes, argued that legislative privilege meant evidence that led to Read’s negligent driving charge was illegally obtained and moved to have it dismissed, but the motion was denied.
The court ultimately rejected that argument.
Read was found guilty of the non-criminal negligent driving charge and ordered to pay a $1,240 fine. The court also warned that her driver’s license could be revoked if she commits another moving violation within the next five years.
The matter is not yet completely resolved.
A hearing scheduled for August will address the deferred portion of her sentence. That proceeding could carry additional consequences, particularly given the existence of the separate speeding case that remains part of the broader controversy.
The second traffic stop reportedly became heated as well.
According to Major Bashaw, Read allegedly raised her voice at the deputy and insisted that he did not understand either the New Hampshire Constitution or what she viewed as her protected status as a legislator. Bashaw said the exchange lasted nearly ten minutes before the deputy ultimately issued the citation.
The case has sparked debate over the scope of legislative immunity and whether constitutional protections for elected officials were ever intended to extend to routine traffic enforcement. While Read maintains that the law shields her from such charges while traveling for legislative duties, lower courts have thus far rejected that interpretation, leaving the legal battle—and the political fallout—to continue.
