Could this be N.H.’s trial of a century?

DOVER, N.H. – Prosecutors in the case against former New Hampshire Congressional candidate Gary Dodds said today they might call up to 92 witnesses.

Dodds, a Rye Democrat, was the subject of a manhunt in the middle of his 2006 run for Congress after his car hit a guard rail and he went missing in the woods for over a day. He was found in what appeared to be a disoriented state walking in a backyard. He spent the night, he said, under a blanket of leaves.

But after an investigation the police said he made the whole thing up. He pleaded not guilty earlier this year to three charges that he left the scene of the accident and falsified police reports. Beyond his own hospital stay, no one was hurt.

At a pre-trial conference at Strafford County Superior Court today, the prosecution added more potential witnesses (bumping the number of potential witnesses to 92) and the trial was set to begin Oct. 1 and last five to eight days.

Dodds was at the court, but his attorney asked he not come into the courtroom to avoid the media for the procedural hearing.