NH High Court Upholds Police Killer's Death Sentence

Michael Addison will remain the state's only death row inmate

Nine years after Michael Addison shot and killed Michael Briggs, and the police department in Manchester, New Hampshire, lost one of its finest, the state's highest court ruled to uphold his death sentence.

Briggs was shot in the head after responding to a domestic call on Lake Avenue on Oct. 17, 2006.

"He treated people with dignity and respect," said Assistant Chief Nick Willard.

In 2008, Addison was sentenced to death for pulling the trigger. Thursday marked the end of the final phase of his direct appeal, with the New Hampshire Supreme Court upholding the sentence.

Willard tells necn a strange twist in the story that started back in 2003, when Briggs was a patrolman.

"He finds a man shot in the chest and immediately renders aid, and he saves this man's life," Willard said. "Then you fast forward and that same man who he saved years before, took his life. That man that he saved in that apartment that night was Michael Addison."

Now, Addison is the state's only death row inmate and after the Supreme Court's decision, that's exactly where he'll stay. In this final phase of the appeal, justices compared Addison's capitol murder case to similar ones across the nation. They unanimously agreed that Addison's punishment is fair.

"We were pleased for Briggs' family and Manchester Police," said Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin. "This has been a very long process."

Manchester Police say they don't stand in support or opposition of the death penalty. They stand seeking justice for their fallen hero.

"The actual execution of Michael Addison is not going to bring back Officer Briggs," Willard said. "Justice is cornerstone of our judicial system and we have to make sure that Addison gets every opportunity to spare his life."

Addison can file a motion for reconsideration of the court's decision. His lawyers had no comment Thursday.

In New Hampshire, an inmate on death row can chose death by lethal injection or by hanging.

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