Capital punishment was abolished in the U.S. state of New Mexico in 2009. The law replaced the death penalty for the most serious crimes with

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

and life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This makes

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

the fifteenth state in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to abolish

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. Since the death penalty was reinstated by the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in 1976 (in the case of ''

Gregg v. Georgia ''Gregg v. Georgia'', ''Proffitt v. Florida'', ''Jurek v. Texas'', ''Woodson v. North Carolina'', and ''Roberts v. Louisiana'', 428 U.S. 153 (1976), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. It reaffirmed the Court's acceptance of the use ...

''), only one person has been executed in New Mexico. This was Terry Clark, who was put to death in 2001, by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

, for the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

of a child. The penalty was abolished by House Bill 2085, which was signed by Governor Bill Richardson on March 18, 2009 and came into force on July 1 of that year. Section 6 of the law states, "The provisions of this act apply to crimes committed on or after July 1, 2009".

Fate of remaining offenders still on death row

Because the legislation is not retroactive, it is still possible for convicts to be executed for crimes committed before July 1, 2009. For ten years after abolition, there were two men on death row in New Mexico whose crimes and trials took place before then: *Robert Ray Fry, bludgeoning and stabbing of a

Shiprock Shiprock ( nv, , "rock with wings" or "winged rock") is a monadnock rising nearly above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico, San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. Its peak elevation is above sea le ...

woman in 2000 (he has also three other murder convictions). *Timothy Allen, for the kidnapping, rape, and murder by strangulation of a teenage girl in 1994 Both Allen and Fry filed petitions for writ of ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

'' asserting that the death sentences in their cases are unconstitutional, both generally, and as applied to them individually. On June 28, 2019, their death sentences were overturned by the New Mexico Supreme Court, which in a split decision ruled that their sentences were disproportionate to their crimes. This effectively closes down New Mexico's death row unless another prisoner were to be tried, convicted and condemned for a homicide that occurred prior to 2009. Only one death penalty trial has taken place since 2009 for crimes that were committed beforehand, that of Michael Astorga, and because the jurors in that case were unable to agree on a death sentence, he received life imprisonment.

Governor Martinez seeks reinstatement

Republican Governor

Susana Martinez Susana Martinez (born July 14, 1959) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 31st governor of New Mexico from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, she served as chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA) from 2015 to 2016. She ...

announced on August 17, 2016, that she will introduce legislation to reinstate the death penalty in the 2017 legislative session. On October 14, 2016, the

New Mexico House of Representatives ) is the lower house of the New Mexico State Legislature. There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents roughly 25,980 residents of New Mexico. The most recent elections were held on November 3, 2020. Composition Leadership Cu ...

approved the bill on a 36-30 vote. The bill provided the death penalty for only three kinds of murder:

child murder Pedicide, child murder, child manslaughter, or child homicide is the homicide of an individual who is a minor. Punishment by jurisdiction United States In 2008, there were 1,494 child homicides in the United States. Of those killed, 1,03 ...

, murder of an on-duty police officer, and murder of a prison employee by an inmate. The bill died in the Democratic controlled

New Mexico Senate The New Mexico Senate ( es, Senado de Nuevo México) is the upper house of the New Mexico State Legislature. The Senate consists of 42 members, with each senator representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the state ...

References

External links

Capital Punishment or Compassion - Executions in the State of New Mexico: The Death Penalty Since Territorial Days (2003)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capital Punishment In New Mexico

New Mexico law

Fate of remaining offenders still on death row

Governor Martinez seeks reinstatement

See also

References

External links