reinstating the death penalty for murder offenses.
Summary
HB 1749 would reinstate the death penalty in New Hampshire for murder offenses, including capital murder, first degree murder, and second degree murder. The bill changes existing sentencing law so that, when the state gives notice that it intends to seek death, a defendant convicted of murder could be sentenced to death or, if death is not imposed, to life imprisonment or another term ordered by the court.
The bill also rewrites the state’s capital sentencing procedures to apply to murder cases where death is sought. It requires pretrial notice of aggravating factors, provides for a separate sentencing hearing before a jury or judge, sets burdens of proof for aggravating and mitigating factors, and preserves automatic review by the New Hampshire Supreme Court for death sentences. It further specifies execution procedures, including lethal injection as the primary method and hanging as a fallback if lethal injection cannot be carried out, and bars execution of pregnant women and people who were minors when the offense was committed.
Impact
HB 1749 would substantially alter RSA 630 by replacing current life-without-parole sentencing rules for murder with a death-eligible sentencing scheme. It expands death-penalty exposure beyond capital murder to first degree and second degree murder, and it updates related procedural statutes governing notice, sentencing hearings, aggravating and mitigating factors, appellate review, and execution methods. If enacted, the bill would create a new legal framework for prosecuting and sentencing murder cases in New Hampshire beginning January 1, 2027.
Sentiment
The available materials suggest the bill is strongly supported by its sponsors, who are advancing it as a reinstatement of capital punishment for murder offenses. No committee transcript or recorded vote is provided, so there is no documented floor or committee debate in the supplied record. The fiscal note, however, indicates significant anticipated costs and operational burdens if cases are brought under the bill, which suggests the measure is likely to generate substantial institutional concern even absent recorded opposition in the provided materials.
Contention
The main point of contention is the bill’s broad expansion of death eligibility. The Judicial Branch notes that the bill would authorize death-penalty litigation in a much larger category of cases than current law and could require additional judicial staffing and resources, with costs that are indeterminable but potentially substantial. The Judicial Council similarly projects many new death-eligible cases and significant indigent-defense and expert-witness expenses. Likely policy objections also center on the reinstatement of capital punishment itself, the inclusion of second degree murder, and the procedural and ethical issues surrounding execution methods and the use of lethal injection or hanging.
Relative to the penalty for certain fentanyl-related offenses; relative to establishing a mandatory minimum sentence for the crime of distribution of a controlled drug with death resulting; and relative to amending the penalties for the possession and use of a quantity of psilocybin for persons 18 years of age or older.
Removing fees and charges for governmental records under the right-to-know law and reinstating potential liability for disclosure of information exempt from disclosure.
Prohibiting the intentional release of polluting emissions, including cloud seeding, weather modification, excessive electromagnetic radio frequency, and microwave radiation and making penalties for violation of such prohibition.
Providing criminal and civil penalties for the transporting of an unemancipated minor in order to obtain a surgical procedure without parental permission.