New Hampshire State Representative Renny Cushing (pic­tured), whose father and broth­er-in-law were mur­dered, is one of many mem­bers of the state’s leg­is­la­ture who sup­ports repeal of the death penal­ty. ​“Everyone is mov­ing away from the death penal­ty. It’s clear New Hampshire isn’t in love with the death penal­ty. We haven’t exe­cut­ed any­one since 1939,” Cushing said. New Hampshire’s only death row inmate cur­rent­ly has an appeal before the state Supreme Court. A death penal­ty abo­li­tion bill passed the New Hampshire House in 2009, but was vetoed by the Governor. Governor-elect Maggie Hassan said she opposed expand­ing the death penal­ty and is expect­ed to sign a repeal bill if it pass­es the leg­is­la­ture. Past efforts to end the death penal­ty in New Hampshire have crossed par­ty lines. Republican Rep. Steve Vaillancourt spon­sored a repeal bill in 2000 and has tak­en pre­lim­i­nary mea­sures to abol­ish the death penal­ty this year. ​“New Hampshire’s a real­ly strong lib­er­tar­i­an state. There is a strong ele­ment in the state that doesn’t trust the gov­ern­ment to col­lect tax­es and plow roads,” Cushing said. ​“And it cer­tain­ly doesn’t want to give the gov­ern­ment the pow­er to kill people.”

(J. Cote, ​“Death penal­ty oppo­nents hope­ful new crop of law­mak­ers will sup­port abol­ish­ing law,” Nashua Telegraph, November 15, 2012). See Recent Legislative Activity and Victims.

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