Just hours after a judge ordered that a death sentence handed down in federal court in Massachusetts be carried out in New Hampshire, the N.H. House Democratic Leader, Peter Burling, said the state should renew its consideration of legislation to repeal the death penalty. “I think the issue is so profoundly divisive and so completely founded on people’s core values that there be some response,” said Burling. “I think most of us believed we’d never see an execution in New Hampshire. It’s easy to become complacent.” New Hampshire has not had an execution since 1939, and the state does not have anyone on its death row. But federal Judge Mark Wolf recently ordered that Gary Sampson’s execution be conducted in New Hampshire. The case was tried in Massachusetts, but since that state does not have the death penalty, the judge was required to pick an alternative state for the execution, and he chose New Hampshire. In 2002, N.H. legislators voted to repeal capital punishment, but then Governor Jeanne Shaheen vetoed the measure. This year, lawmakers are already considering legislation to limit the state’s death penalty by banning the execution of juvenile offenders. (Boston Globe, January 30, 2004) See New Hampshire. See Federal Death Penalty.