Will NH Be Next to Abolish the Death Penalty?

New Hampshire's House of Represenatives voted yesterday 193-174 to abolish the death penalty, sending the bill to the state Senate. The state hasn't executed anyone in 70 years, but recently handed down its first death sentence in decades, to a man named Michael Addison (above). Nothing can make the racial imbalance of the death penalty more plain than seeing one of the few African-Americans in New Hampshire get sent to death row. At the same time he was being sentenced to death, a white businessman got life without parole for his alleged role in a murder for hire operation.

State Rep. Robert "Rennie" Cushing, a Democrat whose father was a murder victim, said that history shows New Hampshire is "not in love with the death penalty." Cushing spoke Wednesday in favor of getting rid of capital punishment.

"I wanted to make it clear to my colleagues that a ritual killing, filling another coffin, was not a tribute to my father," he said. "To many survivors of murder victims, it dishonors our loved ones."

Gov. John Lynch has said he will veto the death penalty repeal bill if it makes it to his desk. But New Hampshire lawmakers were hopeful that Lynch might follow the heroic example of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who signed a law last week repealing capital punishment in his state after previously expressing support for the death penalty.

Asked about Lynch's opposition, Cushing said, "We're hoping that the governor will emulate the journey that Gov. Richardson took recently."

Let's hope the ripples from New Mexico are felt for months to come across the country and around the world (until we can ride the momentum of another repeal, whether it's New Hampshire, Maryland, Kansas, Colorado or another country). And even if New Hampshire doesn't pull it off this year, we can feel confident that if this momentum can happen in the 'Live Free of Die' state, it can happen anywhere.