New Hampshire death penalty repeal fails by 1 vote

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire's Senate has voted to leave intact the state's centuries-old death penalty.

Lawmakers voted 12-12 Thursday on a death penalty repeal measure. The tie means capital punishment will stay on the books.

Last month, the House voted in favor of repeal, and Gov. Maggie Hassan (HASS'-ehn) had said she would sign the measure into law.

New Hampshire last executed someone in 1939.

The repeal measure would have kept the state's lone death row inmate eligible for execution. Michael Addison was convicted in 2008 of killing a Manchester police officer two years earlier. His case is being appealed.

It was the closest a repeal measure has come in New Hampshire since 2000. That year, both houses passed it, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat.