Lawmakers debate death penalty

Lawmakers debate death penalty

Last Update: 02/12/2007 12:26:15 PM
By: Reed Upton

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New Mexico lawmakers are again debating whether to eliminate the death penalty in New Mexico and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Albuquerque representative Gail Chasey is sponsoring the legislation as she has several times in the past.

In 2005, Chasey�s bill was approved by the House of Representatives but died in the last week of the legislative session when it was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a five-to-four vote.

The last person executed in New Mexico was Terry Clark. Clark was executed in 2001 by lethal injection for the 1986 murder of Deena Lynn Gore. Before Clark the last state sanctioned execution took place in 1960.

There are currently two men on New Mexico�s Death Row, Timothy Allen of Bloomfield and Robert Fry of Farmington.