CONCORD, N.H. — After little debate, the New Hampshire Senate has squelched a second attempt this session by opponents of the death penalty to repeal the state’s capital punishment statute.

A bill stalled in the Senate on a 12-12 vote last month. The House then passed a second bill repealing capital punishment, but the Senate voted it down Thursday on a voice vote.

The Senate action leaves the death penalty statute unchanged.

Before the vote, Sen. David Pierce, a Hanover Democrat, urged his colleagues to repeal the death penalty.

“There is no evidence the death penalty keeps us safe,” he said.

Pierce argued that people make mistakes and that means innocent people are executed as a result.

But Senate Republican Leader Jeb Bradley of Wolfeboro said the Senate had thoroughly debated the issue and deadlocked. He urged the chamber to put the issue to rest for the session.

Death penalty opponents vowed to fight for repeal in a future session.

“The strong showing we had this year demonstrates that the issue of death penalty repeal is not going away. It’s not a matter of whether it will happen, but when,” said Barbara Keshen, board chair of the New Hampshire Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

The House voted twice by 2-1 margins to repeal the death penalty. Gov. Maggie Hassan said she would sign the bill as long as it did not affect the death sentence of the only person on New Hampshire’s death row ”“ Michael Addison. Addison was convicted in 2008 of killing a Manchester police officer.

Repeal supporters hoped the Senate would reconsider because its first vote was taken before the death of Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett. The condemned man’s vein collapsed after lethal injection, prompting prison officials to halt the execution. He died of a heart attack more than 40 minutes after the injection.

The latest repeal effort got further along in the legislative process than any measure since 2000, when both chambers passed it, but then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen vetoed the bill. The state’s last execution was in 1939, when Howard Long was hanged for molesting and fatally beating a 10-year-old boy.