In March of this year, New Mexico repealed the death penal­ty, becom­ing the fif­teenth state to abol­ish the prac­tice. The law, how­ev­er, is not retroac­tive, and does not affect two inmates cur­rent­ly on death row as well as any defen­dant sen­tenced to death for crimes com­mit­ted before the law was to take effect in July 2009. One of the leg­is­la­tors who vot­ed to end the death penal­ty, part­ly because of its high costs, was Republican guber­na­to­r­i­al can­di­date Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, who also vot­ed to repeal the death penal­ty in 2007. Arnold-Jones recent­ly said she would con­sid­er com­mut­ing sen­tences of the two men on death row and any oth­ers who may join them.” She con­tin­ued, “[T]he biggest rea­son that I could­n’t sus­tain the death penal­ty any longer is it’s not work­ing. It is fraught with so many issues, so much cost and it bogs down our sys­tem. It’s just not working.“ 

Other can­di­dates for gov­er­nor also sup­port­ed repeal of the death penal­ty. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, the only Democratic can­di­date so far, backed the repeal bill ear­li­er this year. Sen. Michael Sanchez, anoth­er pos­si­ble guber­na­to­r­i­al can­di­date, cham­pi­oned the bill in the Senate. The present gov­er­nor, Bill Richardson, has so far declined to com­mute the exist­ing death sen­tences after sign­ing the abolition bill.

(D. Maass, Uncertain Fates: NM’s next gov­er­nor could com­mute death sen­tences,” Santa Fe Reporter, Sept. 23, 2009). See New Voices and Recent Legislation.

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