Conservative opposition to the death penalty - July 08, 2022 Windham Independent

Conservative opposition to the death penalty

Conservatives live according to their principles - limited government, fiscal responsibility, and protecting the sanctity of human life… and since the death penalty violates each of those, not allowing the death penalty is the right conservative position.

A limited government should have limited powers - having the right to kill a human being is as far from limited powers as it gets. State employees should not have the power to kill citizens outside of the same self defense scenarios that would apply to each of us.

After all, state employees make mistakes, just like we all do. Those mistakes should be corrected when discovered… but there is no way to undo a death at the hands of an executioner. Since the government represents the people, the government's actions are (to a small degree, but still), our actions. 

The moral culpability for killing someone in cold blood does not go away just because the state is designating an executioner to do it - it is still ours to live with when a guilty criminal (or much worse, an innocent) is executed. How can we claim to protect human life if we support killing certain convicted criminals and accept the risk of executing innocents?

Besides the principled and moral objections to the death penalty, fiscal responsibility also justifies ending it: many studies and reports show that death penalty is more expensive that life in prison without parole, which still serves the need to punish the offender and permanently keep them away from potential victims.

Then there is the thorny question of equal protection - not everyone can afford the kind of expensive lawyers who can effectively defend against criminal charges that carry the death penalty… and while this concern is relevant to all criminal cases, it is particularly relevant when the death penalty is involved.

Here is a relevant part (quoted in italics below) of a 2013 NH Magazine article by Jeff Woodburn on the two 2006 capital murder cases prosecuted by Kelly Ayotte:

    Addison gunned down Manchester police officer Michael Briggs as he attempted to arrest him while on a violent crime spree. … A jury sentenced Addison to death… .

    Brooks hired two men to help him bludgeon to death a handyman, Jack Reid, who he believed stole two motorcycles from him. The dispute and deadly plot had been hatched over a period of several months. A jury found Brooks guilty but did not sentence him to death. One of his attorneys, Monica Foster, said afterward, "He's not the kind of people juries routinely kill."

    Death penalty opponents like Manchester attorney Michael Iacopino, a former public defender who served on the state's death penalty study committee, says the contrasting sentences say it all. "The Addison case," he says "is intertwined with everything that is wrong with capital punishment. A rich, white, millionaire hired and perpetuated a murder and his life was spared. A poor, black man who couldn't afford as strong a defense is sentenced to die."



If elected, I will oppose any effort to bring back the death penalty in New Hampshire, and work to focus state resources on better ways to fight crime and help victims.

Please don’t hesitate to text or call me at (617) 755 2590 or email me at dpmwindham@gmail.com if you need more information to help you decide if I deserve your support on September 13th.

Daniel Popovici-Muller

Republican Candidate for State Representative