|
Year of Reenactment
(since 1972 suspension) |
1979 | |
|
Year of First Execution
(since reenactment) |
2001 | |
|
Year of Abolition
|
2009 | |
|
History
|
1880-1928: hanging |
|
|
Current Method
|
Lethal Injection |
|
 |
|
|
New Mexico has life without parole. A jury decides the sentence. The Governor has the exclusive authority to grant clemency. Five clemencies have been granted since Furman; all were granted by Governor Toney Anaya in 1986.
When New Mexico abolished the death penalty in 2009, the law was written to apply only to future crimes. Thus, the two men under sentence of death at that point remain on death row. The death penalty was sought in one trial after abolition, for a crime committed before the law was signed, but the jury in that case sentenced the defendant to life without parole.