USA - New Hampshire. The Senate defeated a proposal in a 12-12 tie to repeal the state’s death penalty

The Senate narrowly defeated a proposal in a 12-12 tie to repeal the state’s death penalty Thursday, a controversial issue at the State House that doesn’t divide neatly along party lines. The New Hampshire Senate has tabled another (SB 463) that would have suspended its use until methods exist to ensure an innocent person isn't executed. Despite new membership, the vote mirrored a 2014 repeal effort that deadlocked the 24-member Senate. The Senate voted today to overturn the Senate Judiciary Committee recommendation of Ought to Pass on SB 463 which suspends the implementation of the death penalty until it can be ensured that it is not being imposed on innocent people. Following a 12-12 vote on an amendment offered by Senator Pierce (D) that would have fully repealed the death penalty, the original bill was tabled on a voice vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee supported the bill on a bipartisan 3-1 vote after they heard overwhelming testimony in support of the bill from a death row exoneree, clergy, law enforcement, a former FBI Special Agent, a judge, and the New Hampshire Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. New Hampshire is the only state in New England with the death penalty still on the books. The state's last execution took place in 1939. Death penalty opponents said after the vote that they're heartened that several senators who have been staunch supporters of the death penalty now support its repeal or suspension. Michael Addison, who was convicted of killing a Manchester police officer in 2006, is the state's only person on death row. The bill would not affect anyone sentenced to death prior to suspension. Sen. Kevin Avard, a Nashua Republican who is chief sponsor of the bill, said he’d been a death penalty advocate all his life but reversed course after interviewing those who were exonerated after lengthy prison stints for crimes they didn’t commit. He was joined in support of repeal or suspension by Sen. Gary Daniels, another Republican who said he’s voted on both sides of the issue in his 20 years in the Legislature. Rep. Renny Cushing, a staunch death penalty opponent whose father and brother-in-law were killed in separate incidents, said he’s encouraged by Avard’s and Daniels’s support for repeal. New Hampshire is the only state in New England with the death penalty still on the books. The state’s last execution took place in 1939, when Howard Long, an Alton shopkeeper who molested and beat a 10-year-old boy to death, was hanged.