Politics & Government

Democrat Unveiling Bill to Repeal NH Death Penalty

A statewide effort to repeal the death penalty officially kicks off later this week. Do you think it should be repealed?

Renny Cushing, a Democratic state representative from Hampton, will officially announce later this week a bill to repeal the Granite State's death penalty.

Cushing, whose father was shot to death with a shotgun in 1988, and the New Hampshire Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will host a press conference at noon Thursday in the Legislative Office Building in Concord to unveil their bill and campaign to gather support for the legislative change.

"We are at an historic moment in our state with support for repeal coming from diverse parts of our community and with a governor who has expressed her support," wrote the coalition on its website, calling the law a "costly, immoral and unjust practice."

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Cushing will be joined by a bipartisan group of bill sponsors as well as other prominent supporters of the repeal of the death penalty, including:

  • Bishop Peter Libasci, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester
  • Bishop A. Robert Hirschfield, of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
  • Judge Walter L. Murphy, former chief justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court and chair of the New Hampshire Death Penalty Study Commission
  • Ray Dodge, former police chief
  • Nancy Filiault, murder victim family member

The Associated Press has reported that the state's last execution was in 1939, and that the only individual currently on New Hampshire's death row is Michael Addison, who was convicted of killing a Manchester police officer.

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The state Legislature voted to repeal the death penalty in 2000, but then-governor Jeanne Shaheen vetoed the bill. The House also passed a repeal bill in 2009, but it didn't make it past the Senate.


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