USA - New Hampshire. The Criminal Justice Committee voted to expand death penalty

The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee voted 11-6 to recommend that the House pass HB 162 to expand death penalty, when it meets in January. The most recent change to state capital murder laws came earlier this year, when it added home invasion cases to the list of killings in which a death sentence can be ordered. The House voted in 2009 to repeal the death penalty, but the effort died in the Senate. The Committee today has voted in favor of making a person who purposely causes the death of another eligible for the death penalty. Such a crime is a 1st-degree murder under state law. Capital murder is limited to certain cases, such as killing a law-enforcement officer, murder-for-hire and murder during a kidnapping, rape or home invasion. The bill sponsor is Rep. Phil Greazzo, Republican.