Overview
- The New Hampshire Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday on Michael Addison’s request to be taken off death row, and the justices left the decision pending.
- Addison’s lawyers said executing him after the state ended capital punishment would be unprecedented in the United States and urged the court to commute his sentence to life without parole.
- The attorney general’s office asked the court to dismiss the petition on procedural grounds, pointing to the court’s 2015 proportionality review, and said that if the review is reopened the death sentence should be reaffirmed.
- New Hampshire repealed the death penalty in 2019 and has not executed anyone since 1939, a backdrop that defense lawyers contrasted with other repeal states like Connecticut that resentenced death-row inmates to life terms.
- Politics shadow the case as Governor Kelly Ayotte opposes any change to the sentence and recent House attempts to restore capital punishment failed, while the bench heard arguments with three justices participating and two not taking part.