FUCK THE POLICE
911 EVERY DAY
My prediction is that over the next few decades nearly every state is going to abolish it but the ones in the south. Then it'll be brought to an end with a constitutional amendment. Of course, I could be wrong. Few people thought that a whopping 40 states would vote to reinstate it after the Supremes reallowed it in 1978, either.
Even if Bill Richardson does veto the bill, having one passed at all in such a moderate state is not good news for proponents.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_11907112
New Mexico Legislature repeals death penalty (3:28 p.m.)
By Deborah Baker / The Associated Press
Posted: 03/13/2009 03:28:50 PM MDT
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Legislature has voted to repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The state Senate voted 24-18 on Friday for the repeal bill, sending it to Gov. Bill Richardson for his signature.
The House approved the legislation a month ago.
Richardson, a second-term Democrat, has opposed repeal in the past but now says he would consider signing it.
"I haven't made a final decision," the governor said this week.
New Mexico, one of 36 states with capital punishment, has two men on death row whose sentences would not be affected by repeal.
The state has executed one man since 1960, convicted child killer Terry Clark in 2001.
New Jersey banned executions in 2007, the first state to do so since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Opponents of the death penalty said it does not deter murder and is administered unfairly, and that there's a risk of executing innocent people.
"As beautiful as our justice system is ... it is still a justice system of human beings, and human beings make mistakes," Sen. Cisco McSorley, an Albuquerque Democrat, said during nearly three hours of debate.
For convicted murderers, life in prison without the possibility of parole is more severe than "the luxury of death," said Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, who sponsored the bill in the Senate.
"We're not talking about life in prison; we're talking about death
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in prison," said Sen. Cynthia Nava, D-Las Cruces, a repeal supporter.
Death penalty supporters objected that murderers sentenced to life-without-parole could end up in the general prison population.
And locking up murderers for life could imperil corrections officers, they argued.
"There's no incentive for not killing a guard every time you get a chance," said Sen. Rod Adair, a Roswell Republican.
He called capital punishment "a just penalty for the most heinous of crimes in our society."
Opponents of repeal also said the death penalty is an important tool for prosecutors, who had asked lawmakers not to pass the bill.
New Mexico was one of several states considering banning executions this year.
Repeal legislation has passed the state Senate in Montana and awaits a House hearing. The state Senate in Kansas is expected to debate a repeal bill on Monday.
Even if Bill Richardson does veto the bill, having one passed at all in such a moderate state is not good news for proponents.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_11907112
New Mexico Legislature repeals death penalty (3:28 p.m.)
By Deborah Baker / The Associated Press
Posted: 03/13/2009 03:28:50 PM MDT
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Legislature has voted to repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The state Senate voted 24-18 on Friday for the repeal bill, sending it to Gov. Bill Richardson for his signature.
The House approved the legislation a month ago.
Richardson, a second-term Democrat, has opposed repeal in the past but now says he would consider signing it.
"I haven't made a final decision," the governor said this week.
New Mexico, one of 36 states with capital punishment, has two men on death row whose sentences would not be affected by repeal.
The state has executed one man since 1960, convicted child killer Terry Clark in 2001.
New Jersey banned executions in 2007, the first state to do so since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Opponents of the death penalty said it does not deter murder and is administered unfairly, and that there's a risk of executing innocent people.
"As beautiful as our justice system is ... it is still a justice system of human beings, and human beings make mistakes," Sen. Cisco McSorley, an Albuquerque Democrat, said during nearly three hours of debate.
For convicted murderers, life in prison without the possibility of parole is more severe than "the luxury of death," said Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, who sponsored the bill in the Senate.
"We're not talking about life in prison; we're talking about death
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in prison," said Sen. Cynthia Nava, D-Las Cruces, a repeal supporter.
Death penalty supporters objected that murderers sentenced to life-without-parole could end up in the general prison population.
And locking up murderers for life could imperil corrections officers, they argued.
"There's no incentive for not killing a guard every time you get a chance," said Sen. Rod Adair, a Roswell Republican.
He called capital punishment "a just penalty for the most heinous of crimes in our society."
Opponents of repeal also said the death penalty is an important tool for prosecutors, who had asked lawmakers not to pass the bill.
New Mexico was one of several states considering banning executions this year.
Repeal legislation has passed the state Senate in Montana and awaits a House hearing. The state Senate in Kansas is expected to debate a repeal bill on Monday.
