
State & Federal
New Hampshire
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News
Mar 09, 2022
Renny Cushing, Victim-Advocate Who Led New Hampshire Death-Penalty Repeal Effort, Dies at 69

New Hampshire State Representative Robert “Renny” Cushing (pictured), a longtime victim-advocate who led the Granite State’s successful efforts to repeal the death penalty, died March 7, 2022 after a multi-year battle with prostate cancer.
Read MoreJul 03, 2019
New Podcast: New Hampshire Rep. Renny Cushing on Empowering Crime Survivors and Repealing the Death Penalty
“Being the survivor of a homicide victim has a pain for which there aren’t any words,” says New Hampshire Representative Renny Cushing (pictured), in the latest episode of the Death Penalty Information Center podcast, Discussions with DPIC. But “[f]illing another coffin doesn’t do anything to bring our loved ones back, it just widens the circle of pain. There’s a big difference between justice and vengeance,” he says.
Read MoreMay 30, 2019
New Hampshire Becomes 21st State to Abolish Death Penalty
Overriding a veto by Governor Chris Sununu, the New Hampshire legislature has repealed the state’s death-penalty statute. With a 16 – 8 supermajority, the May 30, 2019 vote of the New Hampshire Senate equaled the two-thirds required to override a gubernatorial veto. One week earlier, the state House had voted to override with a 247 – 123 supermajority. The override vote made New Hampshire the 21st state to abolish capital punishment and the ninth to do so in the last 15 years. Half of all U.S. states, including every northeastern state, now either have…
Read MoreMay 03, 2019
New Hampshire Governor Again Vetoes Bill to Repeal State’s Death Penalty
For the second time in as many years, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (pictured, left) has vetoed a bill to repeal the state’s death penalty. Sununu’s action on May 3, 2019 sets the stage for an anticipated attempt later in the legislative session to override the Governor’s veto. A two-thirds vote in each house is required to override.
Read MoreApr 12, 2019
New Hampshire Senate Passes Death-Penalty Repeal With Veto-Proof Majority
In a vote death-penalty opponents praised as “historic,” a veto-proof supermajority of the New Hampshire legislature gave final approval to a bill that would repeal the state’s death penalty statute. By a vote of 17 – 6, the senators voted on April 11, 2019 to end capital prosecutions in the Granite State, exceeding the two-thirds majority necessary to override an anticipated veto by Governor Chris Sununu. In March, the state House of Representatives passed the same abolition bill, HB 455, by a veto-proof 279 – 88 supermajority. For the second consecutive year, the bill…
Read MoreMar 08, 2019
Veto-Proof Majority of New Hampshire House Votes to Repeal State’s Death Penalty
By an overwhelming 279 – 88 margin, a veto-proof majority of the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted on March 7, 2019 to repeal the state’s death penalty. Demonstrating strong bipartisan support that garnered the backing of 56 more legislators than an identical repeal bill received in April 2018, the vote ended speculation as to how the reconstituted chamber would respond to repeal. 93 of the 400 representatives in the state house who participated in the vote in 2018 did not seek reelection, and more than one-third of the representatives had never…
Read MoreFeb 19, 2019
Death-Penalty Repeal Efforts Across U.S. Spurred by Growing Conservative Support
Bills to repeal and replace the death penalty with non-capital punishments have gained new traction across the United States in 2019 as a result of opposition to the death penalty among ideologically conservative legislators. That movement – buoyed by fiscal and pro-life conservatives, conservative law-reform advocates, and the deepening involvement of the Catholic Church in death-penalty abolition – has led to unprecedented successes in numerous houses of state legislatures and moved repeal efforts closer to fruition in a number of deeply Republican states. In 2019, conservative legislators are leading the…
Read MoreDec 26, 2018
After Mid-Term Elections, Legislators Poised to Renew Efforts at Death-Penalty Abolition in 2019
Empowered by the results of the November 2018 mid-term elections, legislatures in at least four states are poised to renew efforts to repeal their states’ death-penalty statutes or drastically reduce the circumstances in which capital punishment is available. State legislative and gubernatorial elections in Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Oregon have redefined the local political landscape in 2019 in ways that death-penalty abolitionists say have made those bills more likely to succeed. Colorado and Oregon already have moratoria on the death penalty, but legislators in both states are expected to…
Read MoreNov 07, 2018
2018 Midterm Elections: Governors in Moratorium States Re-Elected, Controversial California D.A. Ousted
The results of the November 6, 2018 mid-term elections reflected America’s deeply divided views on capital punishment, as voters elected governors who pledged not to resume executions in the three states with death-penalty moratoriums, defeated an incumbent who tried to bring back capital punishment in a non-death-penalty state (click on graphic to enlarge), and re-elected governors who had vetoed legislation abolishing capital punishment in two other states. Continuing a national trend, voters in Orange County, California ousted their scandal-plagued top prosecutor, marking the ninth time since 2015 that local voters…
Read MoreJun 22, 2018
Governor Vetoes New Hampshire Death-Penalty Repeal Bill
New Hampshire Governor Christopher Sununu (pictured) has vetoed a bill that would have abolished the state’s death penalty. Surrounded by law enforcement officers as he vetoed the bill on June 21, 2018, Sununu said, “[w]hile I very much respect the arguments made by proponents of this bill, I stand with crime victims, members of the law enforcement community and advocates for justice in opposing it. New Hampshire does not take the death penalty lightly and we only use it sparingly.” New Hampshire has only one person on death row, Michael…
Read MoreApr 30, 2018
New Hampshire Legislature Passes Death-Penalty Repeal Bill, But More Votes Needed to Override Threatened Veto
The New Hampshire state legislature has voted to repeal the state’s death penalty, but proponents of the bill currently lack the votes necessary to overcome a threatened gubernatorial veto. On April 26, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 223 – 116 to pass Senate Bill 593, with 145 Democrats, 77 Republicans, and one Libertarian supporting repeal. The state senate previously approved the measure 14 – 10 on March 15, with support from eight Democrats and six Republicans.
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Famous Capital Cases
Ruth Blay, executed in 1768, was the last woman executed in New Hampshire. She was accused of allegedly killing her stillborn child — a crime of which she was exonerated shortly after her execution. A play was made about her death and a popular song recognizing her innocence was sung locally in the Portsmouth area for many years.
Thomas Powers was executed in 1796 for rape. He was the only African American man ever executed in New Hampshire and the only person ever executed in NH for a crime other than murder.
Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement
New Hampshire has executed 26 people in its history. The last execution was in 1939.
Howard Long was put to death in July of 1939. The rope used to hang him is still retained on display in the Belknap County Sheriff’s office.
A bill to abolish the death penalty was passed by the House and Senate in 2000. The bills were vetoed by Governor Jeanne Shaheen.
In 2004, as part of a national campaign to end the death penalty for juvenile offenders, a bill banning the execution of those convicted of killing while under the age of 18 passed the House and Senate. It was vetoed by Governor Craig Benson. The next year the same bill was reintroduced and passed again. It was signed by Governor John Lynch.
In 2009, an abolition bill passed the House and was then amended in the Senate to create a study commission on the death penalty. Governor Lynch signed that bill and the commission met for a year and issued a report in December 2010.
In April 2018, the House and Senate again voted to abolish the death penalty. Governor Chris Sununu vetoed the bill on June 21, 2018.
In 2019, the legislature again voted to abolish the death penalty, Governor Sununu vetoed the bill. On May 30, 2019, the legislature completed its repeal of the state’s death-penalty statute, voting to override the veto. The repeal was not retroactive, leaving one person on the state’s death row.
New Hampshire “Firsts”
For many years, New Hampshire had the most restrictive death penalty in the country. It applied only in cases of homicide or treason.
In 1834, New Hampshire’s Governor Badger was one of the nation’s first to call for abolition of the death penalty as part of the gallows movement.
Other Interesting Facts
New Hampshire still retains a narrow death penalty statute, which only applies in six specific circumstances.
New Hampshire does not currently have a death chamber. In 2010, the Department of Corrections estimated that building an execution chamber would cost about $1.7 million, but the legislature has not authorized funds to build it.

