CONCORD — State Sen. Nancy Stiles said she received “hundreds of calls” and “voicemails” asking her to repeal or uphold New Hampshire's death penalty. The Hampton Republican said she ultimately chose to cast a deciding vote to uphold it on Thursday because of something a pro-repeal advocate told her.

CONCORD — State Sen. Nancy Stiles said she received “hundreds of calls” and “voicemails” asking her to repeal or uphold New Hampshire's death penalty. The Hampton Republican said she ultimately chose to cast a deciding vote to uphold it on Thursday because of something a pro-repeal advocate told her.



Stiles said the advocate “solidified” her position by stating “you just have to respect life.” Stiles, who was part of a 12-12 vote that prevented the repeal's passage Thursday, said putting someone behind bars for “23� hours a day for 20 to 30 to 40 years” like a “caged animal” is “not respecting life either.”



“I've always felt (capital punishment) was always a good tool to have in the tool box,” said Stiles, adding that it was far from an “easy” vote. “We don't use it often. When it is used, it is designated by a jury of your peers. There are some crimes that are so heinous that it is deserving.”



The death penalty, which hasn't been used in New Hampshire since Howard Long was hanged in 1939 for molesting and beating a 10-year-old boy to death, has been at the center of emotional legislative debate for months.



The House voted in March in favor of repeal 225-104, and Gov. Maggie Hassan voiced support for House Bill 1170 if the death sentence of Michael Addison, convicted of killing Manchester police officer Michael Briggs in 2006, remained intact.



The bill was crafted to only affect crimes committed after Jan. 1, 2014.



State Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, was the bill's chief sponsor. He said he was “disappointed” about the tie vote, although the efforts weren't entirely defeated because the Senate also voted Thursday to table the bill, which means it could go up for another vote before the session ends.



“We've got a couple of months until the end of the session to find an additional senator who will support the repeal,” said Cushing, whose father and brother-in-law were murdered. “One thing that is certain is that the issue is not going to go away.”



Any senator on the floor can request the bill go back before a vote at any point in the current session as long as the request receives majority support from the Senate, according to the Senate clerk's office.



Cushing said he's not sure what it will take to sway one of the bill's 12 opponents, for whom he said he has “a tremendous amount of respect.” That said, he hopes at least one of them will “be the voice to respond to the call of history” on a “very complicated” issue.



Cushing stood alongside Manchester Police Chief David Mara, a supporter of the death penalty, in the Senate gallery as the vote was taken. The two men represent opposite sides of the issue.



Addison is the only man on death row in New Hampshire. Mara and other Manchester officers have been passionate while speaking against the repeal, stating they were echoing the sentiments of Briggs' widow and children.



Had repeal passed, New Hampshire would have become the seventh state in seven years to abolish capital punishment.



State Sen. Russell Prescott, R-Kingston, said he didn't decide which way to vote until late Wednesday night. Prescott said each side made “very strong points,” although he said he ultimately “decided to stand” with “the jurors and the judicial system” because that is what gave him “the greatest peace and clarity” in his decision.



Prescott is a pro-life supporter, although he sees the issues as two separate ideologies because they both “look at the value of a person's life.” He said supporting the death penalty and opposing abortion protects “a culture of life.”



“When you have that kind of conviction, there are consequences to harming a person's life,” Prescott said. “It's not to be done in anything other than the sound judicial makeup that we have in New Hampshire. I believe life is so important that we need to make sure there are consequences to harming life.”



Sen. Bob Odell, a Lempster Republican, said he had always supported the death penalty.



“But today, I'm going to vote for repeal,” he said, saying he wouldn't know how he would explain an execution to his young grandchildren.



Thursday was the closest a death penalty repeal measure has come since 2000, when both houses passed it before it was vetoed by then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.



“I thank the Legislature for their open, fair and compassionate consideration of this sensitive issue,” Hassan said after the vote. “I know that each senator listened to all viewpoints and made a difficult decision, and I appreciate the respect they showed for New Hampshire's democratic process.”



Before the vote, a number of senators spoke of their respect for their colleagues and the difficult decision they faced, saying it was a vote of conscience. The debate was civil, the mood of the chamber somber.



Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center, testified earlier this month that four states have recently repealed measures that left convicts on death row. In Illinois, the governor commuted death sentences to life in prison without possibility of parole. Three states that repealed the death penalty still have convicts on death row, including Connecticut, Maryland and New Mexico.



The voices of those who supported repeal outnumbered death penalty supporters by about 5-to-1 during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this month and included the parents and children of murder victims. Some new faces supported repeal, including former Chief Justice John Broderick and former Attorney General Philip McLaughlin.



Representatives of four police agencies testified against repeal, calling the death penalty a “strategic tool” to deal with the worst of criminals.



Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.