NH House rejects bill to reinstate the death penalty

The New Hampshire House rejected a bill Thursday to reinstate the death penalty and opposed other bills seeking to expand its use.

The votes on the bills came without debate. The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee unanimously recommended the full House reject the legislation.

In a majority report for the committee, Republican Rep. Terry Roy of Deerfield noted that the “overwhelming number of citizens of this state” 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,” he wrote.

A public hearing last month on the legislation saw opponents of the death penalty far outnumber supporters.

The late state Rep. Renny Cushing, a Democrat from Hampton whose father was murdered in 1988, led the effort for the repeal of the death penalty in 2019.

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Gov. Kelly Ayotte told reporters last year she favors bringing back capital punishment but didn't publicly push for any of the rejected bills.

New Hampshire hasn't executed anyone since 1939, and there's just one prisoner on death row, Michael Addison. He was convicted of murdering a Manchester police officer 20 years ago.

When she served as the state’s attorney general, Ayotte led Addison's prosecution.

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