Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, 41, wife of Andrew Cuomo and daughter...

Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, 41, wife of Andrew Cuomo and daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, a leading death-penalty opponent, says "it would be futile" to try to repeal capital punishment in New York. "To tell you the truth, on the death penalty, it's not as big an issue in the state as it was a few years ago," she said. "At that time, you had a Legislature which was trying to pass it and a governor that was trying to resist it," she said, not mentioning the name of her father-in-law, Mario Cuomo, who repeatedly vetoed death-penalty measures during his 12 years as governor. "Now, the death penalty is accepted and the law of the state," she said. "I think it would be futile at this point to try to change that law. I don't think it's going to happen." Six men have been sentenced to die since the law was enacted, but there have not been any executions. Meanwhile, Mrs. Cuomo, who holds many high-level posts on international human-rights organizations and has been a passionate death penalty opponent, said, "Frankly, I think the death penalty is not the most important issue in the world. "I'm against the death penalty, but I think the death penalty, in terms of people's lives and daily existence, is not the most important thing to them." She bristled at the suggestion - often made by Republicans - that death-penalty opponents were "soft on crime." "My father was killed by somebody. My family knows very well what crime can do to a family and how it could affect them . . ." she said.