By Dana Wormald | Editor
Good morning, New Hampshire, and welcome to a new week. Today, William Skipworth looks at New Hampshire’s position as an outlier when it comes to a deadline for convicts to request a retrial based on new evidence. Also, Stateline’s Kevin Hardy reports on how state election officials are viewing the potential for chaos at the polls in November. And, also from William, an update on the Disability Rights Center’s investigation into abuse and neglect within the disability care system. Thank you for reading, and enjoy the day. — Dana
On Aug. 19, lawmakers will decide whether to override Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s veto of a bill that would create new exceptions to the three-year limit for convicts to request a new trial. Shown here is the New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord. (Photo by Dave Cummings/New Hampshire Bulletin)
By William Skipworth
New Hampshire state law gives convicted prisoners three years to request a new trial. After that, they lose the right. With a narrow exception for DNA forensics, that’s true even if new evidence contradicting their guilt emerges. Lawmakers in both parties have been working to change that, but the effort hit a snag: a veto from Gov. Kelly Ayotte. This week, lawmakers will vote on whether to override that decision or let it stand.
Georgia residents line up to vote in 2024. State Democratic officials nationwide are bracing for potential federal interference during November’s midterm elections. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
By Kevin Hardy
“New Hampshire Republican Secretary of State David Scanlan said voters in his state generally trust local election officials to administer and count ballots. And he said the Trump administration would have to ‘have facts’ to refute any unfavorable results. ‘The results are going to speak for themselves,’ Scanlan told Stateline. ‘And the results are factual.’”
By William Skipworth
The Disability Rights Center-NH’s investigation into deaths in New Hampshire’s disability care system is still ongoing, DRC officials said. The investigation was launched in November and the DRC tentatively hoped to have a report released this summer. However, Deodonne Bhattarai, a DRC spokesperson, said the agency’s current goal is to complete the investigation by the end of the year.
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