(The Center Square) — The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Thursday rejected the latest proposal to reinstate the death penalty amid bipartisan opposition.
The vote on HB1413, which was rejected without debate, follows the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee’s recommendation that the bill was “inexpedient” to legislate. Rep. Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, said the panel was unanimous in its opposition to the bill after hearing testimony from the public suggesting most do not want the death penalty to be reinstated.
“While we would contend that the American system of justice is the best in the world, it is not perfect and it does make mistakes,” Roy wrote in the committee’s majority report. “One of the things that makes our system great is its ability and willingness to rectify mistakes. A mistaken execution cannot be undone.”
Roy said considered the “fractious nature of our national political system” and allegations from both sides of the political aisle the federal justice system has been used to target critics.
“Now is not the time in our history to empower the government with the ability to execute its citizens,” he wrote. “History gives us numerous examples of countries where only capital murder warranted death one day and where crimes against the state were added the next.”
New Hampshire banned the death penalty in 2019, becoming the 21st state to outlaw capital punishment after lawmakers overrode a veto by then-Gov. Chris Sununu. The push to repeal the death penalty was led by the late state Rep. Renny Cushing, a Hampton Democrat, whose father was murdered.
Legislation to revive the death penalty has been filed nearly every session since then, but the effort has failed to win the support. Currently, there is only one prisoner on death row in New Hampshire — Michael Addision, of Manchester, who was convicted of murdering a police officer two decades ago — and the state hasn’t executed anyone since 1939, according to data.
Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a former attorney general, has publicly stated her support for reinstating the death penalty.
