New Mexico Death Penalty Repealed by Governor Richardson

New Mexico became the 15th state in the union to stop using the capital punishment Wednesday, when Governor Bill Richardson signed a bill repealing the death penalty.  Going forward death penalty crimes will be get sentences of life imprisonment with no chance for parole.

The last person executed in New Mexico was child killer Terry Clark in 2001.  Clark is the only person to have been executed in New Mexico since the federal ban on the death penalty was lifted in 1976.  There are currently two other people awaiting execution on New Mexico's death row and the bill does not commute their sentences.

Although Governor Richardson is himself in favor of the death penalty he signed the bill into law after it passed in the state government.  First introduced a decade ago, House Bill 285 was not an easy sell.  Representative Gail Chasey who first introduced the bill rallied heavily for it to be passed and considers it a personal victory to see the death penalty end in New Mexico.

The new legislation is expected to save the families of victims from suffering through the appellate phase of death sentences as well as save New Mexico taxpayers money.  Death penalty trials are notoriously expensive and it can take decades for all appeals to be exhausted.  The long appellate phase means reliving a nightmare for the victims and millions of dollars in legal expenses for the state.