DOC Chief Bill Wrenn: NH Preparing for Addison Death

Preparations are well underway for the execution of Michael K. Addison, the man convicted of killing Manchester Police Officer Michael L. Briggs in 2006, Bill Wrenn, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Corrections, said on NHPR's The Exchange on April 3.

Wrenn, a former chief of police in Hampton, said his department has investigated methods used in other states with a death penalty. 

Listen to Wrenn on The Exchange with Laura Knoy, in which he also speaks about challenges for corrections, including substance abuse and mental illness for the incarcerated.

Addison is the only person on death row in New Hampshire, a state that has not executed anyone since 1939. The issue is front and center in Concord. A bill to repeal the state's death penalty statute passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives earlier this year, and the Senate Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on it Thursday at the Statehouse.

Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, a prime sponsor of the bill, said in an interview with Patch that the 2-to-1 support for the bill in the House was a good sign. He continues to confer with members of the 24-seat Senate, hopeful Gov. Maggie Hassan will find it on her desk at some point later this year. The governor has expressed support for it as a prospective law, meaning that it would not affect the Addison conviction and pending death penalty sentence.

Those who support the death penalty note that it is a narrowly defined law that is reserved for the most heinous crimes, such as the murder of a police officer.

Here is a link to New Hampshire's Capital Punishment law.