House shuts down effort to revive the death penalty in New Hampshire

The New Hampshire House of Representatives voted down a bill that would’ve reinstituted the death penalty half a decade after the state chose to do away with it.

The House rejected it as part of the consent agenda, which means it did not debate the bill and voted on it alongside several other bills, after the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety unanimously recommended it be voted down. The committee cited data showing that since the death penalty was repealed, murder rates haven’t increased; concerns about new advancements in DNA testing disproving recent previous murder convictions; and moral objections, among other reasons.

House Bill 1413, which was sponsored by Belmont Republican Rep. Douglas Trottier, came after Gov. Kelly Ayotte publicly supported reinstating the death penalty.