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On Friday the New Mexico Senate voted to repeal the state’s death penalty law. Governor Bill Richardson has until Wednesday to either sign or veto the bill. If signed by the governor, New Mexico will be the 15th state to abolish the death penalty. The governor’s office has set up a phone hotline (505-476-2225) for the public to register its opinion before the Wednesday deadline. New Mexico last executed an inmate in 2001, the only execution since the re-enactment of the death penalty in 1979. There are two men currently on death row whose fate is not clear even if the bill is signed. A death penalty ban would mean that those charged with first degree murders would face life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of capital punishment. Death penalty opponents are looking at the New Mexico bill with cautious optimism, despite past pronouncements by Richardson that he was in favor of capital punishment. However, proponents such as Colleen Gore, mother of a murdered 9-year-old, oppose repealing the death penalty. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Gore said, “I think instead … they should be working on ways to shorten the appeals process.”

GUEST: Vicky Elkey, Executive Director, New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty

Governor Richardson’s hotline on the death penalty question is (505) 476-2225.

For more information, visit www.nmrepeal.org.