07 March 2017 :

House panel rejects bill to bring back death penalty. The House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee voted to table HB 72 in a 3-2 vote on party lines. New Mexico abolished death penalty in 2009. As expected, the committee voted 3-2 to table the measure, effectively killing House Bill 72, sponsored by Rep. Monica Youngblood, R. Her bill would have allowed for the death penalty in cases involving the murder of a child or law enforcement officer. Explaining the bill, Youngblood said it was aimed at "the evil in our society that would hurt a child in this way." New Mexico recently has been the scene of several high-profile murders of children, including 10-year-old Victoria Martens in August 2016 and 9-year-old Ashlynn Mike, who was found dead in May 2016. Youngblood said the question of capital punishment being a deterrent to crime is arguable. But she pointed to an October 2016 Albuquerque Journal poll that said a large majority of New Mexicans support bringing back the death penalty. 1 person has been executed in New Mexico in more than 50 years. That was child killer Terry Clark in 2001. A fiscal analysis by the Legislative Finance Committee of HB 72 said reinstating executions could cost the state up to $7.2 million a year over a 3-year period.