Thank you for sending a handwritten note to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson!

A short, hand written note sent in the mail is the most effective way to urge Gov. Richardson to follow through on the abolition of the death penalty in New Mexico. Below are the main points to raise in your letter. It does not need to be long or detailed, but it does need to be from you, in your own words.

Contact New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson at:

Office of the Governor
490 Old Santa Fe Trail
Room 400
Santa Fe, NM 87501

Main Message:
Please include the following messages in your letter to Governor Richardson:

• Thank you for reconsidering your position on capital punishment
• Please support HB 285, the bill to abolish the death penalty in New Mexico
• Also, please consider supporting HB 211, that allows for paid or unpaid leave for family members to attend court proceedings, and HB 284, that expands services to murder victim family members in New Mexico

Optional points to make in your message to the governor:

It's about helping murder victim families:
New Mexico will become the first state to TRULY put victims' families first. When murder happens, it is the family of the victim that suffers the most - yet our criminal justice system focuses more on the murderer. It is time for the focus to return to the family, to address the harsh realities of losing a loved one. The Catastrophic Crime and Family Restitution Program would end the death penalty and create an innovative package of services for the families of murder victims - the first such program in the country.

Public opinion supports this package of bills:
A statewide December 2008 poll of likely New Mexican voters showed that 64% support replacing the death penalty with alternative sentences plus restitution to victims' families.

Keeping the death penalty means risking a wrongful execution:
At least 130 men and women who were convicted and sentenced to death have been exonerated nationwide since 1973 - less than 15% of them through DNA evidence. It is false witness testimony, police misconduct and prosecutorial misconduct that have put innocent men and women on death row in this country. In 1974, New Mexico sentenced to death four innocent men, Thomas Gladis, Ronald Keine, Clarence Smith and Richard Greer, based on false witness testimony and police misconduct.

The death penalty costs too much:According to the New Mexico Public Defender Department, the abolition of the death penalty would save New Mexico several million dollars each year. The costs of the death penalty are borne systemically, impacting the Public Defender Department, the Attorney General's office, the various District Attorney offices, and the trial and the appellate courts. In December, 2004, Supreme Court Chief Justice Bosson estimated that the cost of a death penalty case was 6 times higher than other murder cases in New Mexico.