AG Ayotte goes to the mat for capital punishment

Interesting to note (0.00 / 0)

that the Senate vote was 14-10, the exact tally as the one last Thursday for civil unions, which our current governor will not veto, despite what might be perceived political disadvantages in doing so.


birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 17:38:44 PM CDT

A Bill That Should Be Law (4.00 / 5)

I was primary sponsor of that legislation seven years ago abolishing the New Hampshire death penalty, which passed both the House and Senate, but was vetoed by then-Governor Jeanne Shaheen.  Many of us expended much energy and time in getting it passed, and put up with attacks from our opponents that I haven't seen equaled until this year's Civil Union debate.

It was a bill that should have become law.  The day of her veto was a sad one for me and many others, but I understood why she vetoed it, and I respect her to this day because she did allow us to make our case -- but it was a sad moment.  We came within 12 votes this year of passing it again in the House.

Nationwide, the death penalty is applied in large disproportion against minorities.  And usually it is not the richer person who will face the death penalty; it is the poorer defendant, one who "looks dangerous" or "seems to be guilty."  Juries, after all, are humans and have the bias of humans.

All of Europe, in fact most of the nations of the world have abolished the death penalty.  We're in league with China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and Texas. 

New Hampshire should be better than that.  Life in prison without any chance of parole until God's time IS a death penalty and that is the sentence that should be applied for the most horrible of crimes. 

This cause continues, and I hope we'll be there soon. 

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by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 18:02:40 PM CDT

come on (0.00 / 0)

Jeanne Shaheen was clear as could be that she supported the death penalty while she was a state senator and while she ran for governor, and said clearly she would veto a repeal if it got to her desk. The legislature nevertheless chose to pass it. What did you expect her to do? Say, "Oh, I was kidding?"

She also signed legislation making NH only the 10th state to include sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination laws, repealing the ban on gays and lesbians from adopting or serving as foster parents, and repealing laws making abortion a felony. And she didn't play cat and mouse about whether she was going to sign them. And, she fought for and signed legislation making MLK Jr Day a holiday, ending NH's status as the only state not to do so.

You all complain about politicians who don't keep their word. But it seems like you want them to break their word to suit you.

How very cynical (not referring to you Splaine).

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by: Huey @ Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 18:32:44 PM CDT

What are you objecting to? (0.00 / 0)

No one said Shaheen's vote was a surprise. And you're calling people cynical, and talking about "you all."

If you have a complaint, point to the words.

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by: elwood @ Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 19:18:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The Diarist (4.00 / 1)

The diarist said, in essence, that part of Governor Shaheen's reason for vetoing was because she wanted to run for higher office, which is an implication that she vetoed out of personal ambition, not personal belief. That was an unfair knock on Governor Shaheen by one wing of the Democratic Party throughout her three terms on tax policy and the death penalty. Interestingly,although Governor Lynch has held positions similar to Governor Shaheen, he has not been the subject of the same sort of accusation.  There is a certain amount of chauvinism involved. In any event, Governor Shaheen had made her position on the death penalty clear all throughout her career.

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by: Frodo @ Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 07:12:24 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Confused. (4.00 / 1)

I'm confused.  When did I or the diarist want Shaheen to break  her word to suit me?  The diarist expressed disappointment in her decision to veto; I did not.  But I will do that here: too bad barbarism carried the day back in 1990's.

I brought up an interesting parallel situation based on the Senate vote count, unwittingly made more interesting, I think, by Rep. Splaine's comment that he was a prime sponsor of the earlier legislation as well.

In one, a Governor overturned (as was her constitutional right) the will of majorities in the House and Senate, and in the other, another Governor didn't.  Both bills clearly have political implications whether the veto or lack thereof was consistent with the Governors' positions or not in each case.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 19:29:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What it tells me is that one is more (0.00 / 0)

egalitarian than the other.  The idea that one person putting another to death, other than in self-defense, is an elitist notion since it rests on the proposition that some people are better than others; that some people are entitled to put other people to death.
That public execution is a deterrent rests on the false assumption that humans are deterred by another's bad experience.  There is no evidence to support this notion.  While it's true that some people are inspired by another's success to emulate their behavior to achieve a similar success, the operant principle in both situations seems to be "I can do better."  Which probably accounts for copy-cat murders, including those perpetrated by the state.  There does seem to be good evidence that jurisdictions where the state puts people to death on a regular basis, the civilian murder rate is elevated as well.
Ultimately, the death penalty grows out of the perception that the purpose of government is to issue directives which the people must follow, or else.  This perception is contrary to the belief that the purpose of government is to perform a limited set of functions to carry out the will of the people.  Governor Shaheen's veto of the legislation ruling out the death penalty suggests that she belongs to the authoritarian class, whose members usually identify themselves as Republicans. 
Recently we've been referring to Democrats in this class as Republican-lite.

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by: hannah @ Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 06:12:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sorry, failure to proof-read-- (0.00 / 0)

"person putting"  s/b

person is justified in putting

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by: hannah @ Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 06:16:38 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

There's no more elitism (0.00 / 0)

in the death penalty that there is in locking someone up for five years. In both cases one "person," acting with the authority of the state, asserts a power over another. The convicted their has no power to jail the judge.

I'm opposed to the death penalty, but that argument doesn't make sense.

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by: elwood @ Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 06:25:37 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

your implication (4.00 / 1)

Is that Gov Lynch is being politically courageous. The fact is that all legitimate (read: not Dick Bennett) polling shows that a solid majority of people in NH support civil unions and an even higher percentage say it wouldn't bother them if civil unions were allowed. And, a big percentage of Democrats would have gun nuts if he'd said he was going to veto it. Given that, it was puzzling that he fussed for so long.

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by: Huey @ Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 09:31:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

New England's Execution Chamber (4.00 / 1)

Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have no death penalty.

So, when a jury in Massachusetts convicted Gary Sampson of murder, John Ashcroft's Justice Department went for the death penalty -- to be carried out in New Hampshire.

Lower liquor prices, electric chair: all the conveniences your state lacks.

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by: elwood @ Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 19:37:41 PM CDT

200th Innocent just released from death row (4.00 / 1)

The Innocence Project announced this week or their 200th release of an innocent person held on death row.

I lived in MA during the Romney Years, and I can tell you that even his supposedly "foolproof" system of identifying the guilty for death row with DNA was anything but.  How can I know this since it was never even instituted?  Well, because real people are involved in handling evidence, and this introduces the chance for error as well as the opportunity for deliberate sabotage.  The MA State Police Crime Lab director, Carl Selavka served on the panel that set the guidelines for the "foolproof" scheme.  The Boston Globe recently reported that, under this expert's oversight, evidence has been severely mismanaged and mishandled.  A nice BlueMassGroup discussion about that here.  I mention this here to caution anyone from falling for the "it  might be doable sometime with a Romney-like plan" trap.  "Sometime" would be when human incompetence and deliberate malice has been overcome by reason.  But by then, no death penalty will be needed anyway, because...reason will have overcome malice. :)

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by: Love Child @ Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 21:11:50 PM CDT

Related to the case (0.00 / 0)

I recall hearing about this case last year and something about the main suspect, Brooks, having a connection to the NH Republican Party. Has anyone heard anything about this?

It's time we steer by the stars, and not the lights of every passing ship

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by: Andy Edwards @ Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 21:58:28 PM CDT

Here ya go :) (4.00 / 2)

Murder Suspect Was GOP Governor Prospect

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 05:47:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks, next time... (0.00 / 0)

when I have a question I will search BH before going to google :)

It's time we steer by the stars, and not the lights of every passing ship

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by: Andy Edwards @ Wed May 02, 2007 at 09:43:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm curious (4.00 / 5)

as to where the money is going to come from to pay for this? The average stay on death row is 13 years. It costs millions to deal with these cases. The state of NY estimates it costs $23 million for each person sentenced to death. One death penalty case going on in Georgia has bankrupted the public defender system. Our court systems are already dangerously underfunded and backlogged - so where will the money come from to enable us to keep company with China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia? 

NH Kucinich Campaign

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by: susanb @ Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 10:34:36 AM CDT

You really ought (4.00 / 1)

to give seminars in political "framing."

Concise, airtight, powerful.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 11:14:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]