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.
Gov. Bill Richardson may have signed into law (pdf) a repeal of the death penalty, but that doesn’t mean the two men on New Mexico’s death row will see their sentences converted to life without parole.
Richardson told news reporters Wednesday during a news conference,“I will not commute their sentences.”
“Those are past legal issues. In fact, they would probably get off easier with life imprisonment,” Richardson added.
The law Richardson signed goes into effect in July 1 and doesn’t apply to crimes that occurred prior to that, meaning that New Mexico still technically has a death penalty.
Richardson also surprised some reporters Wednesday when, moments after signing the repeal into law, he said he remained convinced of his initial statement when Michael Paul Astorga was arrested for killing Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputy James McCrane Jr. McCrane’s parents pleaded with Richardson to not sign the repeal.
“For the record, when this crime was committed I felt that Astorga was deserving of the death penalty and I still do,” Richardson said.
Astorga may indeed face the death penalty, but state Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, said, “There is an interlocutory appeal right now to the (New Mexico) Supreme Court about the fairness of the jury selection process. So our state Supreme Court may weigh in on that prosecution.”
