Police officers who have long opposed repeal packed the Senate gallery for the debate, while repeal supporters surrounded the State House prior to the Senate session and lined the hallway outside the Senate chamber.
"This is probably the most difficult vote any of us will take," said Sen. Donna Soucy, D-Manchester, who supported repeal but acknowledged she met with Manchester police who had lost their colleague, Michael Briggs, when he was murdered by the state's only death row inmate, Michael Addison, in 2006.
