I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
With new state senators and a new governor taking their seats early next year, will capital punishment in New Mexico finally get the ax?
Stateline.org discusses this in light of not only New Jersey’s repeal of capital punishment last year, but action in Maryland suggesting that state may do so as well. In Maryland, the news Web site says, the blow to capital punishment may come from the recommendation of a state commission looking at the controversial practice. In New Mexico it may come from a stronger progressive wing in the Legislature — and a new governor.
In New Mexico, it is not the work of a commission, but the outcome of November’s elections that could lead to a repeal, supporters say. In the state Senate, where a repeal bill failed narrowly after it passed the House of Representatives in 2007, Democrats gained three seats, and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez (D) told Stateline.org he is “very hopeful” the pick-ups will propel the legislation early next year.
Stateline.org went on to say that the bigger change could be in the form of Gov. Bill Richardson heading to Washington, D.C. and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish taking over if and when he is confirmed as commerce secretary. Right now it seems like a good bet that Richardson will be confirmed.
The news site quotes state Rep. Gail Chasey — a past lead sponsor of the death penalty repeal — as saying: “Our primary difficulties in the Senate (in 2007) were with the executive. The governor was running for president, and he simply preferred not to have that bill reach his desk.”
In other words, Chasey, an Albuquerque Democrat, believes Richardson didn’t want a controversial bill to reach his desk and potentially cost him votes nationwide.
But repeal is by no means a sure thing, as evidenced by an outgoing district attorney quoted by Stateline.org.
“Every session the dynamics are different. Because you’ve had some partial success on moving a bill through doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing is going to happen the next time when the dynamics have changed,” said Henry Valdez, a district attorney in Santa Fe, N.M., who supports the death penalty.
While opponents of capital punishment have made their voices heard in recent years, Valdez said, “the first time a 9-year-old girl is raped and killed, the advocates on the other side are going to come out.”
In a similar article in November from the Santa Fe New Mexican, Steve Terrell noted:
New Mexico is one of 36 states with a capital punishment law. The number slowly is going down. Last year, New Jersey became the latest to repeal its death-penalty law, replacing the sentence of execution with life without parole.
Two people are on death row in New Mexico. Timothy Allen of Bloomfield was convicted in 1995 of first-degree murder, rape and kidnapping. Robert Fry of Farmington was convicted in 2002 of two counts of first-degree murder; two counts of kidnapping; one count of rape; two counts of tampering with evidence; and a count of attempted robbery with a deadly weapon.
Terrell also spoke to Viki Elkey, coordinator of the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty, who said that Chasey will once again carry the perennial legislation to abolish the death penalty, which Terrell writes is the type that “pops up in the state Legislature every 60-day session, getting much discussion, raising emotions and eventually dying in some committee.”
New Mexico has rarely even used the death penalty. The last time the death penalty was used in New Mexico was in 2001 when Terry Clark was executed. The execution of the child rapist and murderer was the only one since the death penalty was reinstated in New Mexico in 1978.
