The New Hampshire state Senate's judiciary committee will soon begin hearings on a bill to repeal capital punishment, according to state Sen. Deborah Reynolds, D-Plymouth, chairman of the committee. The state House of Representatives approved legislation repealing the death penalty on Thursday. Gov. John Lynch, D-N.H., has said he will veto the bill if it passes the state Senate.
After listening to testimony, the judiciary committee will make a recommendation about whether the state Senate should approve the bill, Reynolds said. After the committee makes a recommendation, the full state Senate will vote. As the initial judiciary committee hearings have not yet been scheduled, it will be "some time" before the full Senate vote, Reynolds said.
Reynolds declined to comment on the likelihood that the Senate will approve the bill.
"Governor Lynch believes there are some crimes that are so heinous, the death penalty is warranted," Colin Manning, Lynch's press secretary, said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "If legislation repealing the death penalty were to reach his desk, he would veto it."
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen D-N.H., vetoed a similar measure to repeal the death penalty as governor in May 2000.
The current repeal legislation passed the state House by a vote of 193 to 174. A two-thirds majority in the House and Senate is required to override a veto.
State Sen. Matthew Houde '91, D-Plainfield, said he did not know whether the state Senate will approve the bill, but that he does not expect it to pass with enough support to override Lynch's veto based on previous state Senate votes.
The state Senate voted 14-10 to approve the 2000 bill.
State Attorney General Kelly Ayotte has said she will lobby against the bill prior to the state Senate vote.
"I think it's particularly important for our law enforcement, given all they do for public safety, putting their lives on the line, that there be a potential punishment in murder cases," Ayotte told the Associated Press.
Ayotte could not be reached for comment by press time.
New Hampshire currently has one prisoner on death row, Michael Addison. He was sentenced to death in December 2008 for the 2006 murder of police officer Michael Briggs.
Addison can still be executed if the state repeals capital punishment because he would have been sentenced before the bill's approval. A repeal, however, could affect the outcome of his pending appeal, Reynolds said.
"A repeal would throw vagaries into how an appellate court may view that sentence," she said.
Reynolds said the state Senate will consider the bill, but that the issue is not the body's main focus.
"Obviously, this an important issue, but we're really focusing like a laser beam on the economy," she said. "This will come before us, and we'll certainly handle it, but our priority right now is the economy."
Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., signed a law abolishing the death penalty in New Mexico on March 19. Houde said he did not think this decision affected the state House vote on the New Hampshire repeal, as the legislation has been in progress for several months.
New Hampshire is one of 35 states that currently permit capital punishment. A jury may choose to apply the sentence to a defendant 18 years of age or older who has been convicted of capital murder. Executions are carried out by lethal injection.
The state last performed an execution in 1939.
