Capital Beat: The death penalty veto override that nearly wasn’t
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In the end it was one vote.
Ahead of Thursday’s override vote in the House, advocates of repealing New Hampshire’s death penalty had ridden a wave of encouragement for months, propelled by an unshakable sense of inevitability. A bill to repeal the death penalty had already passed the Senate with just over 70% support, and the House with 76%, well over the two thirds’ threshold to override a veto.
Advocates of repeal, meanwhile, were waging an underdog battle to pull back as much of that support as possible, bringing out testimony by Laura Briggs, the wife of slain Manchester police officer Michael Briggs, and former U.S. senator and state attorney general Kelly Ayotte to hammer in an emotional plea.