HB 1548-FN - FINAL VERSION
2000 SESSION
09/01
HOUSE BILL 1548-FN
AN ACT abolishing the death penalty.
SPONSORS: Rep. Splaine, Rock 34; Rep. L. Jean, Hills 17; Rep. Weatherspoon, Rock 20; Rep. Pitts, Rock 35; Rep. Shultis, Rock 33; Sen. Cohen, Dist 24
COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
This bill abolishes the death penalty.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
00-2203
09/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand
AN ACT abolishing the death penalty.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 First Degree Murder. Amend RSA 630:1-a to read as follows:
630:1-a First Degree Murder.
I. A person is guilty of murder in the first degree if [he] such person:
(a) Purposely causes the death of another; or
(b) Knowingly causes the death of:
(1) Another before, after, while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit felonious sexual assault as defined in RSA 632-A:3;
(2) Another before, after, while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit robbery or burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, the death being caused by the use of such weapon;
(3) Another in perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate arson as defined in RSA 634:1, I, II, or III;
(4) The president or president-elect or vice-president or vice-president-elect of the United States, the governor or governor-elect of New Hampshire or any state or any member or member-elect of the congress of the United States, or any candidate for such office after such candidate has been nominated at his party's primary, when such killing is motivated by knowledge of the foregoing capacity of the victim[.];
(5) A law enforcement officer or a judicial officer acting in the line of duty or when the death is caused as a consequence of or in retaliation for such person's actions in the line of duty;
(6) Another before, after, while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit kidnapping as that offense is defined in RSA 633:1;
(7) Another by criminally soliciting a person to cause said death or after having been criminally solicited by another for his or her personal pecuniary gain;
(8) Another before, after, while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit aggravated felonious sexual assault as defined in RSA 632-A:2;
(9) Another before, after, while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit an offense punishable under RSA 318-B:26, I(a) or (b).
II. [For the purpose of RSA 630:1-a, I(a),] In this section:
(a) "Purposely" [shall mean] means that the actor's conscious object is the death of another, and that his or her act or acts in furtherance of that object were deliberate and premeditated.
(b) "Law enforcement officer" means a sheriff or deputy sheriff of any county, a state police officer, a constable or police officer of any city or town, an official or employee of any prison, jail or corrections institution, a probation-parole officer, or a conservation officer.
(c) "Judicial officer" means a judge of a district, probate, superior or supreme court; an attorney employed by the department of justice or a municipal prosecutor's office; or a county attorney; or an attorney employed by the county attorney.
III. As used in this section and RSA 630:1-b, 630:2, 630:3, and 630:4, the meaning of "another" does not include a fetus.
IV. A person convicted of a murder in the first degree shall be sentenced to life imprisonment and shall not be eligible for parole at any time.
2 Repeal. The following are repealed:
I. RSA 630:1, relative to capital murder.
II. RSA 630:5, relative to sentencing procedures and the death penalty.
II. RSA 630:6, relative to places of and witnesses to executions.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2001.
Vetoed 5/19/00
LBAO
00-2203
Revised 12/27/99
HB 1548 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT abolishing the death penalty.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Judicial Council has stated this bill may decrease state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2001 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local expenditures or state, county and local revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The Judicial Council has determined there should be an indeterminate savings due to the repeal of the death penalty statute. The significant costs associated with this type of litigation simply do not affix to most murder cases. There will be significant costs associated with the defense of these cases as first degree murder, but these costs generally do not equal those associated with a full blown capital murder trial and the subsequent range of appeals that result. Due to the seriousness of the crimes that now become part of the first-degree murder statute, the Council believes there will be significant costs associated with these trials. Based upon this fact, it is not possible to place a dollar amount on the savings that might have been anticipated from the repeal of the death penalty itself. The Council further stated funds have never been directly appropriated or budgeted for a capital case within the indigent defense budget, so the savings are projected only, and will not necessarily result in direct dollar savings to this fund.
The Administrative Office of the Courts has stated there have been no capital murder cases tried in New Hampshire in recent history, nor budgeted for in the judicial branch budget, therefor, the abolishment will have no fiscal impact on the Branch.
The Department of Corrections has stated no funds have been expended on this issue, and that they have no prisoners on death row. Therefor, there will be no fiscal impact on the Department of Corrections.
The Department of Justice has stated this bill will have no fiscal impact on the Department of Justice.