Sep 7, 2008 12:48 pm US/Eastern
1st NH Capital Murder Case Could Affect 2nd
BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) ―
Legal experts say New Hampshire's first capital murder trial in decades will act as a barometer of the public's feeling on the death penalty, and as a test for prosecutors looking to impose it in another case.
The first trial begins Monday and involves
John Brooks, a millionaire accused of arranging and participating in the death of a Derry trash hauler in 2005. The second case involves
Michael Addison, who is charged with fatally shooting a Manchester police officer in 2006.
The state hasn't had a capital trial since 1959. Though there have been a number of others charged with capital murder, most defendants have taken plea bargains instead of going to trial. That means there's no established formula for handling such cases.
"Brooks is a shakedown cruise for the prosecution in terms of what's the best way to try these cases," said Albert Scherr, a professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord.
The biggest challenge, he said, will be asking jurors to vote on executing the defendant if he's convicted.
"You can theorize about it a lot, but that's a remarkable thing to ask any human being to do, let alone 12 human beings to do," he said. "You don't necessarily do it perfectly the first time you do it."
Rich Taylor, a defense lawyer not involved in either case, said the Brooks trial also could provide valuable insight into the minds of jurors asked to impose the ultimate sanction against another person. Thirty days after the close of the Brooks trial, attorneys will be allowed to interview jurors about their decisions. Depending on whether the Addison trial is under way then -- jury selection begins Sept. 22 -- those interviews could show prosecutors what types of evidence command the strongest emotional response or show defense lawyers what mitigating factors to argue.
"It is important to recognize that a major player in this question is the court of public opinion," said Taylor. "And that is something I think the politicians are listening to and the Attorney General's office is likely to be listening to."
While both cases raise the question of whether the penalty of death is moral, Addison's case strikes closer to the heart of average residents, Taylor said. The details of the Brooks case sound "like the plot of a Hollywood movie," he said, while the allegations against Addison embody "our deepest fear of a random act of violence against some of the most revered members of our society."
Andrew Cotrupi, a former Rockingham County public defender, said the Brooks case could create a template for the state to exhaust all the legal challenges that can be brought later to the state Supreme Court on appeal.
"Given the emotions of the Addison case, the government is going to want any problems that are going to arise, or any delays, to happen in the Brooks case."
If a jury finds Brooks -- who is white -- guilty but does not sentence him to death, that will make a death penalty sentence less likely for Addison, who is black, said Scherr.
He said prosecutors should not underestimate the "racial guilt factor" jurors would feel.
"How can you vote to kill a black man when you didn't vote to kill a white man?" he said.
Both others disagreed, including veteran defense attorney Michael Ramsdell.
Jurors in the Addison case will be told to weigh the facts presented to them at trial, and a separate capital murder case in a different courthouse will not play a role in their decision, he said.
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