CONCORD — House Speaker William O’Brien blasted the three Democratic gubernatorial candidates for saying during Wednesday’s televised debate that they would have vetoed the Cates bill, which expanded the state’s capital murder statutes to first-degree murder committed during a burglary.

“I was stunned to hear that each of the Democrats running for governor would choose to deny justice for families who have lost a loved one to such a heinous crime as having a murderer commit burglary and kill someone in the sanctity of his or her home,” said O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon.

He was the prime sponsor of the “Kim Cates” bill, which Gov. John Lynch signed into law last year.

Cates was brutally murdered in a 2009 home invasion that left her 11-year-old daughter, Jaimie, badly injured. Two of the four teenagers involved in the crime are serving life-without-parole sentences.

The three candidates, former state Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jackie Cilley, and retired military security officer Bill Kennedy, all said they opposed the expansion of the death penalty during a debate sponsored by the New Hampshire Union Leader and WMUR.

“I will tell you as a mother, as a grandmother, I can certainly understand how that would have affected me,” Cilley said during the debate. “How the governor of the state of New Hampshire has to act is a bit different.”

On Thursday, she issued this statement: “I support lifetime prison sentences as the best approach to protecting our citizens and to guarantee that justice is carried out.

Justice must include the prevention of putting an innocent person to death.”

During the debate, Cilley and Hassan said they would not commute the death-row sentence for Michael Addison, who was convicted of the 2006 murder of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs.

Kennedy however, said he would commute Addison’s sentence.

“As the only person on this panel with a law-enforcement background,” Kennedy said in Wednesday night’s debate, “and having grown through the criminal justice system, (I know) the death penalty is not a deterrent.”

Contacted Thursday, Kennedy asked how he could be opposed to the death penalty and not be in favor of commuting Addison’s sentence.

“Life in prison is far worse punishment than death,” he said.

On Thursday, Hassan’s campaign reiterated her statement during the debate that “as a matter of personal faith and personal conscience, I oppose the death penalty,” but said as governor she would enforce the state’s capital murder laws.

Hassan campaign spokesman Will Craig noted that Republican candidate Ovide Lamontagne does not support the death penalty.

“Will Speaker O’Brien ask Ovide the same question?” Craig said.

Jamie Burnette, spokesman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kevin Smith, said Smith supports the death penalty, and as governor would have supported expanding the death penalty to include murder during home invasions.

Lamontagne has said on several occasions he personally opposes the death penalty, but would enforce the state’s capital murder laws.

Both GOP candidates addressed the issue during Thursday night’s debate (see related story).

O’Brien noted that the Cates tragedy occurred in his community of Mont Vernon.

“My own community has seen the tragic reality of this type of violence that has shattered our security, and this law has helped to restore our confidence in our own homes, while ensuring that any other families who experience this type of tragedy know that there will be justice,” O’Brien said. “I am appalled by these candidates who would strip us of this comfort and bring us back to a time when murderers did not need to fear the most serious consequences for their actions.”

He urged the Democratic candidates to come to Mont Vernon and walk with him and talk to town residents so they could change their minds on the issue.

Since the law was passed last year, no one has been charged with capital murder under the new provisions.

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Garry Rayno may be reached at grayno@unionleader.com.