CONCORD – David Pook, the private school teacher fired amid allegations he lied to a grand jury about an alleged affair with a student, is free from criminal charges after the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office failed to indict him within the legal time limit.

At the end of February, authorities charged Pook with two counts of perjury and two counts of witness tampering for his alleged actions surrounding the grand jury convened to investigate sexual assault problems at St. Paul School in Concord. Pook allegedly had a sexual relationship with one of his St. Paul students before he was fired in 2008. Last year, Pook reportedly tried to get the young women with whom he allegedly had a sexual relationship to lie before the grand jury.

Pook’s attorney, Mark Sisti, said Friday his client maintains his not guilty plea. Though the charges are dismissed, Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Brian Tucker dismissed them without prejudice on Thursday. Than leaves the state free to bring back the charges.

Representatives with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office were unavailable for comment on Friday. Sisti blames the state’s new Felonies First initiative for creating problems. Meant to streamline the criminal process for felony charges by eliminating certain hearings, Sisti said Felonies First is causing confusion, and cases are being forgotten.

“A lot of these cases are getting lost in the shuffle,” Sisti said.

Under normal circumstances, the state would have 60 days to bring charges before a grand jury for possible indictment, Sisti said. If an indictment is not handed up by a grand jury within that time frame, the charges are then dismissed.

Sisti will not speculate on whether the state will seek to reinstate the charges against Pook.

Pook, 47, of Warner, had been teaching at the Derryfield School in Manchester when he was charged. The state has been investigating sexual assaults at St. Paul in the wake of the Owen Labrie scandal. Labrie was found guilty in August 2015 of luring an underage student into a sexual encounter while he was an upperclassman. He was convicted on sexual assault and child endangerment counts. The case sparked outrage over the allegedly widespread practice of upperclassmen at the school targeting freshman girls for sex. It also raised questions about the actions of the faculty and staff at the Episcopal boarding school.

Last month, a former student filed a lawsuit against the school alleging that when she was a student during the 2012-2013 school year, a classmate forced her to perform sex acts against her will, while she was groped by other boys.

Earlier in May, George Chester Irons, who graduated in 1976, and Keith “Biff” Mithoefer, who attended the school from 1966 to 1970, filed a lawsuit against the school calling St. Paul’s “a haven for sexual predators.” Both men contend they were abused by faculty and staff at the school.

Pook was fired in 2008 when St. Paul’s administration became aware of his relationship with a student. The school did not at the time contact law enforcement, however. Pook was then hired to start teaching at the Derryfield for the 2009-10 academic year, partly based on a positive recommendation from St. Paul officials. The school has since apologized for the recommendation.

Pook was fired from Derryfield soon after he was charged in February. Derryfield officials maintain there were never any complaints about Pook while he taught there.

Damien Fisher can be reached at 594-1245 or dfisher@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_DF.