Gov. Kelly Ayotte said she supports the concept of bringing back the death penalty for those who murder law enforcement officers in New Hampshire.
Ayotte: Bring back death penalty for cop murderers
Gov. Kelly Ayotte told reporters Wednesday she wants the Legislature to restore the death penalty that it repealed back in 2019 when it comes to capital murder of law enforcement officers.
The Democratically led Legislature in 2019 repealed the death penalty by overriding the veto of then-Republican Gov. Chris Sununu.
Ayotte said this legislation was the only bill she came to the State House to testify against as a private citizen, three years after she had lost her U.S. Senate seat to Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.
In 2009, Ayotte prosecuted and secured a death penalty sentence against Michael Addison for the 2006 slaying of Manchester Patrolman Michael Briggs and he remains the only person on death row
Five years ago, lawmakers said the intent of the repeal was only to apply to offenses in the future but Addison’s lawyers have appealed to the state Supreme Court that his sentence should be changed to life without parole.
“Obviously my hope is that claim does not prevail,” Ayotte said.
The governor said she hasn’t reviewed the specifics any of the three proposed bill requests on this topic.
“Law enforcement officers are on the front lines and keeping them protected, I think it is important,” Ayotte said.
“I would like to see the death penalty restored.”
Rep. Doug Trottier, R-Belmont, has proposed to bring back the death penalty for “capital murder” which were that series of crimes that applied under state law until the Legislature repealed it.
Rep. Mike Belcher, R-Wakefield, wants to bring it back for murders of minors under 13 years old and Rep. Seth King, R-Whitefield, wants it back for certain “murder offenses.”
House Deputy Democratic Leader Laura Telerski said polls have shown that a supermajority of New Hampshire residents supported getting rid of capital punishment.
The late Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, whose father and brother-in-law were murdered in separate incidents, became a national leader in the death penalty repeal movement and authored the bill the Legislature adopted with its override votes on May 30, 2019.