The death penalty was abolished in N.H. six years ago, yet there is still one man on death row: Michael Addison, a Black man sentenced for killing a police officer in 2006. Now the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is jumping in to try and get his sentence changed because of racial bias from his initial sentencing.
The ACLU claims that similar cases of murdered policemen led to the defendant getting a life sentence because they were white, according to Valley News. A similar case happened in August 1997, when patrolman Jeremy T. Charron was shot after checking a suspicious car. The suspect who shot the officer, Gordon Perry, was sentenced to life without parole, while his friend Kevin Paul was put on conditional parole after 17 years in prison, according to Seacoastonline. Later in 2020, Paul was charged with felony escape. Both of them were white.
Addison shot 35-year-old Manchester officer Michael Briggs in 2006 after responding to a domestic disturbance call relating to Addison. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008, the first person in the state to be given such a sentence in 67 years.
Addison still remains alive, but the death penalty in N.H. was abolished back in 2019, so is it fair to carry out his sentence? And does it make sense that he was seemingly the only cop-murderer to be given the death sentence out of the others within the past 20 or so years?
Without a doubt, there is a large possibility that this sentence was racially motivated, but there are other factors that could contribute to his sentence in some way. Maybe it was because Addison didn’t plead guilty to avoid the sentence, like Perry.
The repeal bill that abolished the death penalty in N.H. in 2019 was not to apply to previous death sentences, including Addison’s case, but he now remains the only person on death row in the state.
Other states that abolished the death penalty did have similar problems, such as Conn. and N.M., where the state abolished the death penalty in the effect it would only affect cases from that moment on, but then higher courts deemed the felons to be given a lesser sentence.
If the Supreme Court deems Addison to still be worthy of the death penalty, N.H. will be the first state to have someone executed after the death penalty has been abolished. It would make no sense for us to break that trend.
If this case truly is racially motivated, then I don’t know what to say. Racism shouldn’t exist, especially within government and law systems, where there is supposedly justice for all. But that would be in a perfect world, and unsurprisingly, that’s not the case for the current day and age.
Hayley Doda can be contacted at
hayley@kscequinox.com
