Senate lawmakers are set to take up a bill this week that would repeal the state’s death penalty.
The Senate’s Judiciary committee last week voted in favor of recommending the bill for passage, which NHPR’s Josh Rogers says could prove key to the measure’s ultimate fate.
“Because the bill is emerging from committee with a 3-2 majority and an-ought-to-pass recommendation, that means the first vote when it hits the floor will be for its passage. If that vote fails, and it very well could, the bill would then be open to amendment.”
New Hampshire hasn’t executed anyone since 1939.
Michael Addison is the state’s lone death row inmate. He was sentenced to death for the 2006 murder of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs.
This week’s Senate vote is seen as the last major hurdle for the proposal.
The House has already passed the bill and Governor Maggie Hassan says she will sign it into law as long as it does not affect Addison’s sentence.
