This amicus brief stresses the need for the New Hampshire Supreme Court to employ its most scrutinizing standard of de novo review in the automatic appeal of this death penalty case. The brief also urges the court to adopt a two tiered multi-faceted proportionality review as part of the automatic appeal process. The proportionality review should include both quantitative and qualitative methods to determine whether the imposition of the death penalty in this case is disproprtionate and unconstitutional.