Capital punishment in New Hampshire

Capital punishment was abolished in 2019 in New Hampshire for persons convicted of capital murder. It remains a legal penalty for crimes committed prior to May 30, 2019.

On May 30, 2019, the New Hampshire Senate voted 16–8 to override Governor Chris Sununu's veto of House Bill 455, which changed the punishment of capital murder from capital punishment to life in prison. Earlier, on April 26, the New Hampshire House of Representatives had voted 247–123 to override the veto. In both chambers, the measure to override the governor's veto passed by a single vote to secure the two thirds majority required. New Hampshire was the last state in New England to allow capital punishment by law, and was the 21st state to abolish capital punishment.

The abolition of capital punishment did not affect Michael K. Addison, who was sentenced to death in 2008 for the 2006 murder of Michael Briggs, a Manchester police officer. Addison is the only person on death row in New Hampshire; the new law does not apply retroactively to his case.

The primary method was lethal injection, with hanging as a secondary method if lethal injection was deemed "impractical" by the State Commissioner of Corrections. New Hampshire (dating back to 1739, before it was a U.S. state) carried out 24 executions for capital punishment, most recently in July 1939, with the execution of Howard Long.

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