Senate Takes Up Death Penalty

By now, many arguments over the death penalty are pretty familiar.

People who oppose capital punishment say innocent people could be killed, people of color and the indigent are more likely to be sentenced, and it’s not a good use of state money.

On the other side, people say New Hampshire has one of the narrowest death penalty laws in the land and the rules are designed to make it very difficult to get a death verdict.

As the debate goes on, the most common argument in Concord to preserve the death penalty comes from law enforcement.

There seem to be two key elements to their case.

First, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte told the Judiciary Committee that the death penalty is a deterrent.

TAPE: if the penalty is life with out parole and the criminal already knows if he gets caught he’s going to jail for a very long time, we embolden criminals to feel there is no greater consequence for killing a police officer...dangerous criminals should know if they kill a police officer they may face the death penalty.

The second part of the argument is somewhat subtle.

Under New Hampshire law, a person can be sentenced to death only if they are found guilty of murder during a rape, a kidnapping or killing a law enforcement officer.

Based on testimony at the Senate hearing, by including the murder of law enforcement officers under the statute, society is acknowledging the special role police officers play.

Manchester Detective Lieutenant Nick Willard says the thought of abolishing the death penalty has sent shiver up law enforcement’s collective spine.

TAPE: this is what they think of us. this is what they think of our commitment to give our lives. I am willing to put my life out there, at the expense of my own children, and this is how we get treated.

But Raymond Dodge- a former police officer- said he doesn’t agree the death penalty protects police officers.

Dodge was a police officer for 25 years, 8 as Police Chief in the town of Marlborough.

TAPE: six police officers in the state of NH have been murdered in the line of duty since 1994. So, that I think in and of itself speaks to the deterrence or the lack thereof.

Dodge says the thought that criminals will do some sort of cost-benefit analysis before they commit a crime doesn’t square with the criminals he’s met.

TAPE: they don’t think like you or I. I think a lot of people assume that these people go through the same decision making process and thought process that we do when they are in these situations. They are not thinking about consequences...many of the individuals I arrested and I spoke to later, actually couldn’t believe they did what they did after they got out of the heat of the passion of the crime they committed.

The law enforcement lobby will be a loud voice as Senators consider this bill.

Death penalty opponents have their work cut out for them.

Some 11 Senators are believed to oppose the measure, meaning they only need one more vote to kill it.

Governor John Lynch has vowed to veto it.

Complicating matters is that Attorney General Ayotte says passing the legislation would negatively affect Michael Addison’s appeal.

Addison is on death row for killing Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs.

But at the hearing far more people came out to support abolishing the death penalty than preserve it.

For NHPR News, I’m DG.