HB 1422-FN – AS INTRODUCED
2006 SESSION
04/09
HOUSE BILL 1422-FN
AN ACT relative to the death penalty.
SPONSORS: Rep. Splaine, Rock 16; Rep. DiFruscia, Rock 4; Rep. Powers, Rock 16; Rep. Pilliod, Belk 5
COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
This bill removes the death sentence from the capital murder statute and replaces it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
06-2090
04/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six
AN ACT relative to the death penalty.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Homicide; Capital Murder. Amend RSA 630:1, III to read as follows:
III. A person convicted of a capital murder [may be punished by death] shall be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
2 Repeal. RSA 630:5, relative to procedure in capital murder, is repealed.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2007.
LBAO
06-2090
11/7/05
HB 1422-FN - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to the death penalty.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Administrative Office of the Courts and Judicial Council determined this bill may decrease state expenditures in FY 2007 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local expenditures or state, county and local revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) states this bill will decrease the penalty for capital murder from the death penalty to a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. This bill may result in a savings to the judicial branch because there would be no penalty phase trial, which is required in a death penalty case and because life in prison cases are less hard-fought than cases in which the death penalty is a possible outcome. New Hampshire has seen so few capital murder indictments since the enactment of the current criminal code in 1971 that any savings could not be estimated.
The Judicial Council states this bill may result in an indeterminable savings due to the repeal of the death penalty statute. There will continue to be significant costs associated with bringing these cases forward even without the death penalty as life without parole remains a significant sentence which requires a zealous and skillful defense. In general terms these costs do not usually approximate or equal those associated with a complete capital trial and sentencing phase, and all the subsequent appeals that may result from a conviction under the death penalty.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated this bill will have no fiscal impact on the DOJ. By eliminating the possibility of the death penalty in capital murder cases, the DOJ believes that it would substantially reduce the number of attorney and support staff hours that would have to be devoted to the prosecution of such cases. However, the DOJ has never had to prosecute a capital murder case and do not have the funds in the DOJ budget to do so. Had the DOJ had to pursue such a case, the DOJ would have had to make a special litigation request pursuant to RSA 7:12 to the Legislative Fiscal Committee. This bill reduces the likelihood that the DOJ would have to seek additional litigation funds in the future.
The Department of Corrections states that any fiscal impact to the Department cannot be determined since the last execution in New Hampshire was in 1939.