Let New Hampshire Decide How To Use the Death Penalty

By Fr. Tom Washburn, O.F.M.

What is wrong with judges in Massachusetts? It is with shock and dismay that I read of U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf’s order that convicted murdered Gary Sampson be executed in our great state of New Hampshire. This action has left me with an abiding question, what is happening to our democracy? What is happening to “of the people, for the people and by the people?” How can this be that a judge ruling in a neighboring state on a case that does not involve crimes in our state can pass a ruling that in an instant transforms the debate over the death penalty without ever hearing the voices of New Hampshire citizens?

The debate over the death penalty has been raging over the last few years here and one could make the argument that there is a strong movement to abolish the death penalty in New Hampshire. After all, the Legislature did vote to abolish capital punishment in New Hampshire in 2000. If it weren’t for then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen’s veto of that legislation we wouldn’t even be facing this issue. Instead, we are now being faced with the possibility of New Hampshire’s first execution since 1939.

Some might argue that it shouldn’t matter since New Hampshire does technically have the death penalty on the books. It isn’t as though they are trying to push the death penalty on a state that doesn’t have it. But, let us not forget that even if Gary Sampson’s conviction here in New Hampshire, he could not receive the death penalty. New Hampshire’s death penalty legislation is very restrictive and only allows its use when a criminal is convicted of murdering police officers, judges and other similar officials; and in other very restrictive cases.

What we have is a case of a federal judge trying to act dictatorally upon a state. Judge Wolf is in effect suspending state’s rights and imposing federal rule upon the state of New Hampshire. This action goes against the form of government that we so cherish in this nation. This action goes against even standard practice of the federal judicial system which typically executes federal death row inmates in Indiana. As a matter of fact, even the prosecutors in the Sampson case requested execution there. But, this judge has decided – against the will of the people of New Hampshire – that it is time for the death penalty to return to our state. Judge Wolf ignores the 65 years without an execution here to push forward a personal and federal agenda.

This issue, however, is far to important, and far too personal to be decided by one man – let alone someone from another state. It is my hope, desire and prayer that we will one day abolish the killing of our own citizens through the death penalty here in New Hampshire. Some readers may agree with me others may not. But, I hope that we can all agree on one thing – that we, the citizens of New Hampshire, should be the ones to make this decision – not Judge Wolf.

As citizens of New Hampshire we have to stand up in large numbers, with one voice, and let the federal government know that we will not stand for the imposition of this ruling upon our state. We must write to our representatives at every level. We must march in the streets. We must raise our voices until they are heard. There is only one group that is qualified to make a decision about the future of the death penalty in New Hampshire and that is the people of New Hampshire – not some federal judge sitting on a bench in Boston. This seems to be a developing trend among judges in Massachusetts. They’ve decided, “Let’s not waste our time on democracy. It is so annoyingly slow. Let’s just change things ourselves.” It is time for us to say “no.”

Fr. Tom Washburn, O.F.M. is associate pastor and coordinator of youth ministry at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Derry, NH. He is a member of the Order of Friars Minor and holds two master’s degrees from Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Cambridge, MA. Email him at: TOMWAS@aol.com.