New Hampshire Becomes 21st State To Abolish The Death Penalty

Zoe Greenberg of The Boston Globe wrote:

A decadeslong battle ended in triumph on Thursday for opponents of the death penalty as the New Hampshire Senate overrode a governor’s veto and repealed the state’s capital punishment law.

The 16-8 vote made New Hampshire the 21st state in the country to abolish the death penalty.

When the result was announced, cheers erupted in the tiny gallery overlooking the Senate chambers, which was packed with activists, lawmakers, and clergy.

Among them was Renny Cushing, a Democratic state representative who became an unlikely advocate for abolishing the death penalty after his father was murdered in 1988.

“There’s a Seamus Heaney poem that talks about moments when hope and history rhyme,” said Cushing afterwards, his voice breaking. “This is one of those moments.”

The final tally, in which opponents of the death penalty garnered exactly the two-thirds majority needed to override the governor’s veto, did not fall neatly along party lines. Two Democrats voted to uphold it, while four Republicans voted to abolish it. (Senator David Starr, a Republican, switched sides between the initial vote and the override, ultimately voting to uphold the death penalty.)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/05/30/new-hampshire-becomes-state-abolish-death-penalty/b9IlqUV6JSOaaRdWLZhSRM/story.html