New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said he is strongly against any effort to repeal the state’s death penalty while a bipartisan group of lawmakers are backing a measure that would repeal capital punishment.
The bill has 13 co-sponsors in the Senate, and if passed it would change the penalty for capital murder to life in prison without the possibility for parole. Sununu released a statement Wednesday saying that his administration supports the death penalty and that he will veto the bill if it reaches his desk.
“There is no doubt that the most heinous crimes warrant the death penalty,” Sununu said.
The bill would not change the fate of Michael Addison, who was convicted of in the 2006 murder of Manchester police Officer Michael Briggs and sentenced to death. Addison is New Hampshire’s only death row inmate.