USA - New Mexico. House panel rejects bill to bring back death penalty.

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.