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Thread: New Hampshire Capital Punishment News

  1. #21
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    Prison wardens to discuss death penalty

    Two former wardens will testify before a state death penalty commission about their experiences carrying out executions in three southern states.

    While a prison warden, Ron McAndrew oversaw five lethal injections in Texas and helped perform three electrocutions in Florida.

    Allen Ault oversaw executions in Georgia. Both men are expected to discuss the toll executions take on the state employees who carry them out. Ault will be testifying via video/speaker phone.

    The Death Penalty Study Commission meets at 9 a.m. at the Legislative Office Building.

    The commission is schedule to report its conclusions in November.

    http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/...h-penalty.html

  2. #22
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    Warden critical of death penalty

    A former prison warden who carried out eight executions urged a New Hampshire commission Thursday to stay away from the practice, saying the memories of those he has put to death haunt him.

    “It’s nothing but a premeditated, ceremonial killing, and we do it to appease politicians who are tough on crime,” Ron McAndrew said after his testifying at the Legislative Office Building. “The state has no right to ask people to kill others on their behalf.”

    McAndrew, a former warden in Florida and Texas and now living in Florida as a prison consultant, said he supported the death penalty until “these men came and started sitting at the edge of my bed at night.”

    McAndrew helped perform three electrocutions in Florida and oversaw five lethal injections in Texas. Since he has been speaking out against the death penalty, he said, many former corrections officers who participated in executions have sought his counsel.

    “We spent hours on the phone, trying to process the horror we went through,” McAndrew told the panel. “We never admitted it at the time. That would have shown weakness in a job that demanded strength.”

    “I implore you, don’t get into this business,” McAndrew told the commission. “Honor your corrections officers and don’t force them to go through what I went through – what so many of us have gone through and have suffered for.”

    The last execution in New Hampshire took place in 1939. The state has one convict on death row, cop killer Michael Addison, whose appeals have just begun to wend their way through the courts. The state Supreme Court is still shaping how to evaluate the fairness of the state’s death penalty laws.

    Since October, the New Hampshire Commission to Study the Death Penalty has heard testimony from both advocates and opponents of the death penalty and is scheduled to issue its report in November.

    Testimony included people on both sides of the debate, from a relatives of a crime victim to a law expert.

    Laura Bonk, a Concord woman whose mother was murdered in Massachusetts in 1989, urged the panel to repeal the death penalty.

    She told them Thursday would have been her mother’s 69th birthday. Bonk’s sister, 16 at the time, was also shot by the son of a sick friend her mother was visiting in Littleton, Mass.

    “My mother was opposed to the death penalty,” Bonk said. “I ask you to recommend repeal. It would honor me and, most of all, my mother.”

    Bonk said her aunt called three years ago to tell her the killer died in prison of natural causes. She told the panel his death brought no comfort or closure.

    “It does not lessen the pain,” she said. “It does not help victims heal.”

    The panel also heard from New York Law School professor Robert Blecker, who argued in favor of keeping the death penalty but applying it “only to the worst of the worst of the worst.”

    Those who kill during drug transactions should not be death be death-penalty eligible, he said, adding, “It is understood in the drug game that there are certain killing offenses.”

    He also would exempt from the death penalty battered spouses who hire a killer.

    Acknowledging that his opinion would not be popular in New Hampshire, Blecker also said a robber who shoots an officer to avoid capture – the scenario in Addison’s killing of Manchester Officer Michael Briggs – should not be subjected to a death sentence.

    “I revere police officers, but they are strapping on a gun as a condition of employment,” Blecker said. Killing a juror should be added to the list of crimes eligible for death, he said.

    Also, Blecker said, the commission should not view life without parole as a viable alternative to a death sentence, saying “lifers” typically earn the most privileges and get the best jobs behind bars.

    He said he visited the state prison Wednesday and saw inmates painting, sculpting, building furniture and playing sports outdoors. Panel member and defense attorney Lawrence Vogelman noted that Blecker appeared angry while describing his prison visit.

    “I am angry,” Blecker said. “I see justice not being done. I know they have murdered heinously and they spend their day in play.”

    Blecker also said he opposes lethal injection because executions should involve pain.

    “For the torture killers, for the rapist killer of children, a quick but painful death sometimes is the only response,” Blecker said. “It’s more appropriate than an opiate haze.”

    http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/...h-penalty.html

  3. #23
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    Death penalty expansion on the table in NH

    When does the punishment not fit the crime?

    Not in the case of James Spader, according to Republican legislative leaders who carry more weight now than ever.

    Spader got a life sentence for a home invasion murder and assault that was cold-hearted and callous. And that is fueling the call for the death penalty for such a crime.

    The passion for the death penalty expansion has a champion -- a Republican with clout.

    William O'Brien intends to file legislation to expand the criteria for the death penalty to include homicides from home invasions.

    O'Brien is not only the Republican representative from Mount Vernon, where Kimberly Cates, 42, was murdered and her 11-year-old daughter, Jaimie, was maimed in a 2009 home invasion.

    O'Brien also thought to have the best chance of being the next speaker of the New Hampshire House.

    “I think there is an increased awareness that the death penalty has a legitimate role in our criminal system,’’ O’Briensaid to the Boston Globe.

    “What we believe needs to be done is make a clear statement to people who think they can get their thrills out of doing this that, if you’re caught and convicted, the worst will happen to you."

    He said the bill will be named for Kimberly Cates.

    At least one juror has said he believed a judge would have imposed the death penalty if possible, but Spader is excluded from capital punishment because he was under 18 when the murder occurred and the slaying is not one of six applicable crimes in New Hampshire. They are: Murder of a law enforcement or judicial officer, murders for hire, murder while serving a life sentence, and murders committed during kidnappings, rapes, or drug sales.

    A state commission created during the last legislative session is studying the death penalty. Its recommendations are scheduled for release on Dec. 1.

    The Commission to Study the Death Penalty in New Hampshire was created in 2009 by HB 520.

    Its charge is to study whether:

    * The death penalty in New Hampshire rationally serves a legitimate public interest such as general deterrence, specific deterrence, punishment, or instilling confidence in the criminal justice system;
    * The death penalty in New Hampshire is consistent with evolving societal standards of decency;
    * The decision to seek the death penalty through the penalty phase of trial for defendants who are eligible to receive the death penalty in New Hampshire is arbitrary, unfair, or discriminatory;
    * The current capital murder statute in New Hampshire properly encompasses the types of murder which should be eligible for the death penalty or whether the scope of the current capital murder statute should be expanded, narrowed, or otherwise altered, including an analysis of the types of murder covered by the current capital murder statute and any aggravating and mitigating circumstances listed in the statute;
    * Alternatives to the death penalty exist that would sufficiently ensure public safety and address other legitimate social and penal interests, and the interests of families of victims of crime;
    * There is a significant difference in the cost of prosecution and incarceration of a first degree murder case where the penalty is life without parole as compared with the cost of a death penalty case from prosecution to execution.

    http://www.examiner.com/democrat-in-...n-the-table-nh

  4. #24
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    Panel favors state's death penalty

    Members of a commission tasked with studying the death penalty yesterday voted in favor of keeping the practice in New Hampshire, though by a narrow majority.

    Of the commission's 22 members, 12 voted to retain the death penalty and 10 to abolish it, said Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch. Reports from the majority and minority outlining their arguments and findings will be made public tomorrow.

    The commission, which was created by the Legislature last year, includes legislators, lawyers, police officers and family members of victims, appointed by different organizations and branches of government.

    They were asked to consider seven questions, including whether the death penalty rationally serves a public interest and whether it is consistent with evolving societal standards.

    Given the complexity of the subject, consensus among the members was unrealistic, several people said yesterday. But between the positions outlined in the majority and minority reports and the evidence assembled by the commission over a year's worth of meetings, "there really is a good body of information" for legislators to draw on, said Michael Iacopino, a criminal defense lawyer who sat on the commission.

    Iacopino voted in favor of abolishing the death penalty, and he said he was disappointed to be in the minority. But he said he was satisfied with the process the commission used to reach its conclusions.

    "Any legislator who reads the majority report, reads the minority report, takes the time to listen to the evidence the committee considered - I think a fair-minded legislator is going to have to say the arguments for the death penalty really aren't all that good," Iacopino said yesterday.

    Iacopino said he thinks the death penalty is bad policy. Political pressures weigh on the decision to prosecute a death penalty case, which can lead to mistakes and undermine confidence in the system, he said.

    He also said studies haven't proved a deterrent effect. "If we can't demonstrate deterrence, what's the sense of it?" he said.

    But several commission members who were in favor of keeping the death penalty cited a deterrent effect among their primary reasons for supporting the practice.

    They also said they believed that the state's law, which allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty only in certain cases, was appropriately reserved for the most egregious crimes, among them killing a police officer in the line of duty.

    That shows "a balancing of the demands of society for just punishment with respect for the sanctity of life," said John Kissinger, a civil defense lawyer who was previously a homicide prosecutor in the state attorney general's office. He called the limited nature of the statute "the most important single factor" he considered in voting to keep the death penalty.

    James Reams, the Rockingham County attorney, also cited the limitations of the law as a reason for retaining it, describing New Hampshire's statutes as "much more protective" than those in other states that have the death penalty.

    Reams also believes the death penalty has a deterrent effect. He referred to a story told to the commission by Peter Heed, the Cheshire County attorney. According to Reams, Heed testified that when he was a criminal defense lawyer, he had a client who said he didn't kill a police officer because he knew he could face the death penalty.

    "There's a police officer probably alive today who doesn't even know he was saved by the fact that we had a death penalty," Reams said.

    If the death penalty deters even one murder, then it can be morally justified, said Charles Putnam, the co-director of Justiceworks, a research institute at the University of New Hampshire.

    "My impression is most people assume that all of the moral arguments cut against keeping the death penalty," said Putnam, who said he joined the commission "mildly in favor" of keeping the state's law the way it is Putnam said he isn't sure anyone can prove whether the death penalty has a deterrent effect, since "it's very difficult to measure what doesn't happen." But assuming it does, he said, "at least to me, that creates a very strong moral argument - this isn't just mean people doing mean things to criminal defendants."

    A moral argument can also be made, however, for not spending the state's money prosecuting costly death penalty cases, said Sherry Young, who runs the environmental practice group for Rath, Young & Pignatelli and served as Judd Gregg's legislative counsel when he was governor.

    Young, who voted in favor of abolishing the death penalty, said she was struck by testimony from the families of murder victims, contrasting the costs involved in seeking the death penalty with what's spent to support the families of victims - and what's spent on cracking unsolved murder cases.

    And the costs aren't just economic, Young said. Of the victims' families who testified before the commission, "almost to a person, they noted that bringing forward a death penalty case against a murderer extends and prolongs the trauma they feel, for years and years," Young said.

    Young said she didn't have a strong opinion on the death penalty before joining the commission, but she said the testimony and evidence heard by the commission was "overwhelmingly opposed to the death penalty."

    But some of the testimony came from out-of-state advocates, sent to New Hampshire by groups that oppose the death penalty, said Dan St. Hilaire, a criminal defense lawyer and former Merrimack County attorney.

    St. Hilaire, who voted in favor of keeping the death penalty, said he didn't find that testimony helpful.

    "You could see whatever group had the money and resources to pay for somebody to come in, that's who you heard from," he said. "That's what made it disappointing in a sense. It wasn't as much fact-finding as it was political."

    Still, St. Hilaire said the commission's work was worthwhile. Going forward, any legislator who wants to change the state's death penalty law will have a "blueprint," he said - "documenting to point to for the facts."

    http://www.concordmonitor.com/articl...lty?page=0%2C1

  5. #25
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    Lynch Says He Would Support Expansion Of Death Penalty

    Gov. John Lynch said Friday he is in favor of expanding the death penalty to include different crimes.

    A push to expand the use of the death penalty in New Hampshire was inspired by the killing of Kimberly Cates, of Mont Vernon, in a home invasion in which her daughter was seriously injured.

    During a taping of "Close-Up" for WMUR-TV, Lynch said that he is now in favor of expanding the death penalty to include crimes like the one in Mont Vernon.

    "I would support it. I would," he said. "Again, it has to be done very thoughtfully and very carefully, and it needs to involve discussions with law enforcement, the Legislature, advocates. But I would support the expansion of some murders that occur during home invasions."

    http://www.wmur.com/news/26400992/detail.html

  6. #26
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    Death penalty expansion bill would include home invasion

    A bill submitted to the House Clerk’s Office in Concord would expand New Hampshire’s death penalty law to included persons convicted of murder while committing a home invasion.

    The bill, submitted Friday by House Speaker Rep. William O'Brien, R-Mont Vernon, is being named the Kimberly Cates Bill, after the Mont Vernon mother who was savagely murdered during a 2009 home invasion, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. Cates’ daughter Jaimie was severely injured during the home invasion.

    O’Brien told the Union Leader that they have the family’s permission to name the bill, the Kimberly Cates Bill, which they hope to move through the House and the Senate quickly, having it ready for Governor John Lynch for signature within weeks.

    The Union Leader reported that Governor Lynch has recently said he “’is in favor of expanding the state’s death penalty to include “heinous” crimes.”’

    If passed the new law would not be retroactive and therefore would not apply to the trial of Christopher Gribble, who is to be tried on charges in the Cates murder the Union Leader said.

    Lynch’s Press Secretary Colin Manning, speaking of Governor Lynch, told the Union Leader “He is open to considering expansion of the death penalty in New Hampshire as it pertains to cases that involve home invasions, like what we saw in the Mont Vernon case.”

    New Hampshire’s death penalty currently applies to defendants in cases involving the murder of a judge or police officer, murders for hire, committing murder while serving a life sentence and murder during the course of a drug sale, rape or kidnapping the Union Leader said.

    http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-man...-home-invasion

  7. #27
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    Murder Victim's Husband To Testify For Death Penalty Bill

    An effort to expand New Hampshire's death penalty statute is being supported by the husband of a woman killed in a home invasion.

    David Cates is planning to testify Tuesday in favor of the bill. Cates was the husband of Kimberly Cates, who was killed in October 2009 in an attack in Mont Vernon that left their daughter seriously injured. The bill is named after Kimberly Cates.

    "I think his availability puts a personal face on the tragedy that happened and the necessity for a law that will protect us in our homes," said House Speaker Bill O'Brien.

    Under current law, the murder of Kimberly Cates doesn't qualify for capital punishment. The proposed bill would change that. Gov. John Lynch said that if the bill is written properly, he would support it.

    "It's an emotional issue, and there needs to be real parameters around it so it's very clear what the expansion is all about, and I'll be working with the legislative leaders, with law enforcement and victims advocates to make sure the final product is very carefully crafted," Lynch said.

    Aside from his constant presence at the trial of Steven Spader, who was convicted of first-degree murder in Kimberly Cates' death, David Cates has avoided publicity. O'Brien said David Cates' inclusion in the process is a counter to the argument that expanding the death penalty law is too costly and too traumatic for victims' families.

    "All those arguments pale in the face of the necessity of giving justice to the individuals who have been subjected to this sort of home invasion and death, and in doing justice," O'Brien said.

    While it would not retroactively apply to the 2009 killing in Mont Vernon, the Kimberly Cates Bill, if passed by the House and Senate, could become law in New Hampshire before the end of the session.

    The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

    http://www.wmur.com/news/26682229/detail.html

  8. #28
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    House backs death penalty in cases of murder during a home invasion

    A House committee is recommending the death penalty law be expanded to include murder committed during home invasions.

    House Speaker William O’Brien, the prime sponsor of HB 147, said after the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee’s 14-2 vote, “Perhaps this will be some comfort to the Cates family that they will know future victims of a home invasion and a crime such as this will have some protection that Kimberly didn’t."

    In October 2009, 4 teenagers broke into the Cates ' Mont Vernon home, killed Kimberly and slashed and stabbed their daughter, who survived.

    Kimberly’s husband, David Cates, testified in favor of the bill last month at a public hearing. He told lawmakers "I am seeking justice for the next family whose lives could be changed forever."

    The capital murder statute now covers the murders of police officers, judges and court personnel, or killings committed during rapes, kidnappings or a major drug transaction.

    During the committee meeting Wednesday, several members said they would support the bill to move it to the full House, but had not decided how they would vote on the bill at that time.

    But others adamantly supported the change. Rep. Laura Pantelakos, D-Portsmouth, said “it is not right that a murderer’s parents can see their child every day, while I have to go to a gravesite.”

    The trial for the 2nd teen charged with the murder of Kimberly Cates, Christopher Gribble, has begun in Hillsborough Superior Court South. Gribble has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

    The 1st teenager tried for her murder, Steven Spader, was convicted in November of 2 counts of 1st degree murder.

    (Source: The Union-Leader)

  9. #29
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    Lawmakers Vote To Expand Death Penalty

    Lawmakers loudly backed a bill that would expand the death penalty statute in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

    The bill, named after slain Mont Vernon mother Kimberly Cates, would expand the death penalty to crimes including murder during home invasion.

    Cates was murdered in the 2009 burglary in her Mont Vernon home.

    Currently, the death penalty law in New Hampshire lays out specific criteria to impose capital punishment, including the murder of a police officer or judge and drug-related murders.

    The bill is expected to become law as Gov. John Lynch has expressed his support for the expansion of the death penalty statute.

    Opponents have argued the death penalty bill will lead to costly trials and put victims' families through additional trauma.

    http://www.wmur.com/news/27198894/detail.html

  10. #30
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    NH Bill Makes Home Invasion Deaths Capital Crime

    A gruesome machete attack that killed a New Hamphire woman in her bed and wounded her daughter in a deadly home invasion has forced New Hampshire to reexamine its death penalty law.

    The House is voting as early as Tuesday whether to make home invasions like the murder of Kimberly Cates in a 2009 burglary in her Mont Vernon a capital crime.

    The young men charged in Cates' death could not have faced the death penalty because the crime did not fall into one of the six types of murders eligible for death under New Hampshire's statute, one of the narrowest in the nation.

    A 19-year-old man has been convicted of Cates' murder and sentenced to life without parole. Co-defendant Christopher Gribble's trial is under way.

    http://www.dailymail.com/ap/ApWorld/201103180997

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