New Hampshire Supreme Court Rejects Michael Addison's Petition to Review Death Sentence
The court said state law allows only one proportionality review and that the 2019 repeal does not apply retroactively to Addison.
- On Tuesday, the New Hampshire Supreme Court dismissed Michael Addison's petition to reconsider his death sentence for the 2006 murder of Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs.
- State lawmakers repealed capital punishment in 2019 by a 279-88 House vote, but the statute explicitly excluded those convicted before the effective date, leaving Addison as the state's sole death row inmate.
- Justice Melissa Countway wrote that state law does not authorize successive "comparative proportionality review" for defendants, noting the court already affirmed the sentence was neither excessive nor disproportionate in 2015.
- Governor Kelly Ayotte, who prosecuted the case, praised the decision, while Democratic challenger Cinde Warmington recently told WMUR she would "not be proceeding" with the sentence if elected.
- The ruling arrives amid a national resurgence in executions, with 29 prisoners executed nationwide so far in 2026, though New Hampshire has not carried out a death sentence since 1939.
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keenesentinel.com
indepthnh.orgNH Supreme Court dismisses Addison’s death penalty appeal
CONCORD — The N.H. Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of the death sentence of Michael Addison, a Black man who in 2008 was convicted of killing Michael Briggs, a white police officer in Manchester.
New Hampshire Supreme Court denies death row inmate’s latest appeal
Seven years after repealing the death penalty, New Hampshire has one inmate on death row. On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court declined to intervene in his case, citing statutory authority. Michael Addison has been in prison for roughly 20 years for fatally shooting Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs in 2006. In 2008, a jury sentenced […]
Cop Killer Addison Loses in Court as Death Penalty Divides Governor’s Race
New Hampshire’s highest court has once again rejected cop killer Michael Addison’s request to review his death sentence, moving him one step closer to execution.Tuesday’s announcement from the high court also keeps the Addison case in the state’s political conversation one month before the November election. Incumbent Gov. Kelly Ayotte prosecuted Addison for the 2006 killing of Manchester police Officer Michael Briggs when she was attorney gener…
New Hampshire Supreme Court rejects Michael Addison's petition to review death sentence
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has dismissed a petition to review the death penalty sentence of Michael Addison, who was convicted of capital murder in the 2006 shooting death of Manchester police Officer Michael Briggs.
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