Today's Concord Monitor reports, "Panel favors state's death penalty." It's by Maddie Hanna.
Members of a commission tasked with studying the death penalty yesterday voted in favor of keeping the practice in New Hampshire, though by a narrow majority.
Of the commission's 22 members, 12 voted to retain the death penalty and 10 to abolish it, said Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch. Reports from the majority and minority outlining their arguments and findings will be made public tomorrow.
The commission, which was created by the Legislature last year, includes legislators, lawyers, police officers and family members of victims, appointed by different organizations and branches of government.
They were asked to consider seven questions, including whether the death penalty rationally serves a public interest and whether it is consistent with evolving societal standards.
Given the complexity of the subject, consensus among the members was unrealistic, several people said yesterday. But between the positions outlined in the majority and minority reports and the evidence assembled by the commission over a year's worth of meetings, "there really is a good body of information" for legislators to draw on, said Michael Iacopino, a criminal defense lawyer who sat on the commission.
The majority and minority reports will be posted at the Commission to Study the Death Penalty in New Hampshire website.
Earlier coverage of the New Hampsire Commission begins at the link; related posts are in the study commission index.
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