Here in New Hampshire, we have the death penalty. It hasn’t been carried out in almost 70 years, but it’s still on the books. And currently we have one case where it’s being pursued — and I’d like to nominate a third scumbag.
Last week, Michael Woodbury of Windham, Maine apparently tried to rob the Army Barracks store in Conway, New Hampshire. (Disclosure: I was an occasional customer of the store’s other location in Salem, New Hampshire, and have a leather jacket and a couple pairs of gloves (no, not military fatigue style, just warm and comfortable as hell) that I bought there.) During the robbery, he shot and killed not only the store’s manager, but two customers. After a brief manhunt, he was caught.
Further, while being hauled into court, he was asked by reporters if he did it. (You’ve all seen that sort of thing.) With no coercing whatsoeer, he said “unfortunately, I did” — greatly simplifying the prosecution.
The guy wanted money, so he robbed the store. He got interrupted by a couple of customers, so he did what he thought he had to — he shot and killed all three.
(An odd fact about the case: the killer and the manager were both Maine residents, and the customers were two friends from Massachusetts. The only New Hampshire element to the story is purely geographical — and that means that he will face trial in the only state of the three that has capital punishment.)
A great deal of taxpayers’ money — meaning my money — is going to be spent bringing some small measure of justice to this vermin. I’m not happy about the total, especially in light of his freely-given confession, but I don’t begrudge a single penny of it — as long as he never breathes free air again.
And if he joins the race to be the first person executed in New Hampshire since 1939, all the better. Whether this scumbag or Michael “Stix” Addison, accused cop-killer, finishes the race first, the real winners are the people of New Hampshire.
