New Hampshire court upholds death penalty for state’s only death row inmate

New Hampshire's Supreme Court rejected Michael Addison's bid to overturn his death sentence for killing Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs in 2006, ruling the state's 2019 repeal of the death penalty applies only to convictions after the repeal's effective date. Addison, now 46, remains the state's only death row inmate.

The ACLU argued in an amicus brief that executing Addison would make New Hampshire the only state in the country to carry out an execution under a repealed capital punishment statute, and noted Addison, who is Black, received a death sentence the same year a white businessman convicted of a comparably brutal killing received life. Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who prosecuted the original case as attorney general, said the ruling is an important step toward justice for Officer Briggs.

Addison has another appeal pending in Merrimack County Superior Court that could still halt his execution.

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