The New Hampshire House has passed a bill that would require violent offenders to attend their sentencing hearings, following a dispute in the case of a man convicted of raping a 19-year-old college student.
It was introduced by Rep. Renny Cushing, a Hampton Democrat whose father and brother-in-law were slain. He said he was outraged when Seth Mazzaglia wanted to skip his sentencing in the death of Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott.
Prosecutors read a transcript of a recorded jail conversation between Mazzaglia and his mother in which he says he doesn't want to listen to Marriott's family "whine and bitch and moan about how I'm a monster."
Mazzaglia later withdrew his motion and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The House voted Wednesday. The bill now heads to the Senate.
