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.
One reason why a bill to repeal of the death penalty hasn’t gained much attention in New Mexico is because Gov. Bill Richardson has expressed his opposition in the past. When Diane Denish was expected to take over as governor before the end of the legislative session, there were higher expectations for ending capital punishment in the state.
Even though Richardson isn’t going to take a spot in the Obama administration, the death penalty repeal has an opportunity to pass, as the governor signaled in a recent Associated Press story that he may be changing his mind on the death penalty.
He’s said his position on the subject has “softened” and that there’s a good chance he’d opt to replace the death penalty with a life sentence without parole, as called for in the bill.
“Right now, I’d say it’s probably a 50-50 proposition,” the second-term governor told the Associated Press.
“I’m struggling with my position, but I definitely have softened my view on the death penalty,” he said.
A bill advocating the repeal of the death penalty has passed the House and is making its way through the Senate.
So what is changing his mind? Richardson told the AP that his position on the controversial issue has been softened by arguments of prosecutorial abuse and miscarriages of justice. The cost of the death penalty, which has been used as an argument by supporters of a repeal, is low on the reasons of why he would consider the repeal. But he describes it as a “valid” argument nonetheless.
The state of New Mexico very rarely uses the death penalty. The last occasion was in 2001 in the case of convicted child rapist and murderer Terry Clark. That execution was the only one since the death penalty was reinstated in New Mexico in 1978.
