Saturday, March 21, 2009

 

New Mexico becomes 15th state to get rid of capital punishment

There was some interesting political drama this week as New Mexico got rid of the death penalty in favor of a maximum sentence of life without parole. As Doug Berman reports, there are some interesting twists to this story. For one thing, Governor Bill Richardson decided whether or not to sign the bill by soliciting and then evaluating public comments. New Mexico only had two people on death row, but they will still be executed-- the repeal only applies to those committing crimes after the bill takes effect.

This is a big victory for the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty and its Executive Director, Viki Harrison Elkey.

# posted by Mark Osler @ 1:33 AM
Comments:
Awesome! I will most likely be prepping to take their bar in 18 months or so. This just solidifies that NM is a state that I think will be a great place to practice criminal law.
# posted by Blogger No one : 1:34 AM
 
Glad to hear it. The U.S. puts to death more people than all but a handful of countries (the usual suspects -- Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, etc.) and the vast majority of them are poor and black. Just 35 more states to go!
Bob
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 8:44 AM
 
NM is also at the top of my list for practicing criminal law. It's nice to know that I won't have to worry about anyone being put to death as a result of my advocacy.
# posted by Blogger JT : 12:00 PM
 
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