[ACLU-NM] NM Repeal--Special Joint Hearing Tomorrow

[Kimberly Lavender]

Join Repeal Supporters
for House Judiciary Committee Hearing
Wednesday, February 23rd
1:30 PM
House Chamber

Bring your friends, wear your Lobby Day t-shirts,
and help us pass out of Judiciary Committee and on to our first House floor
vote ever!

Due to the more formal nature of a hearing in the House Chamber, there will
be predetermined speakers testifying from the House Floor. Following formal
testimonies, there will most likely be an opportunity for others to show
their support from the Gallery.

If you cannot attend the hearing, please contact the members of House
Judiciary listed below.


House Judiciary Committee
Call and voice your support for House Bill 576, "Abolish the Death Penalty"

Joseph Cervantes, Las Cruces
Chair
986-4411

Al Park, Albuquerque
Vice Chair
986-4234

Hector Balderas, Wagon Mound
HB 576 Co-sponsor
986-4254

Gail Beam, Albuquerque
HB 576 Co-sponsor
986-4844

Terry Marquardt, Alamogordo
986-4758

Ken Martinez, Grants
HB 576 Co-sponsor
986-4777

Mimi Stewart, Albuquerque
HB 576 Co-sponsor
986-4341

Thomas Swisstack, Rio Rancho
HB 576 Co-sponsor
986-4254

Gloria Vaughn, Alamogordo
986-4453

Eric Youngberg, Albuquerque
986-4226

Teresa Zanetti, Albuquerque
HB 576 Co-sponsor
986-4220


Letters to the Editor

An op-ed on our legislation ran in the Albuquerque Journal and Journal North
on Saturday. NOW is the time to write a letter to the editor to the Journal
if you live in the Albuquerque or Santa Fe areas. For those of you outside
these areas, the op-ed has been released to papers statewide. Keep an eye on
your local paper over the next two weeks for the op-ed pasted below.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Use Death Penalty Appeals Money To Aid Families

By Pat Songer
Albuquerque Resident
    Imagine getting a call one day with the news of the murder of a beloved
family member. Now imagine that the court system, the media and politicians
in your community focus on how to treat the murderer while little attention
is placed on helping your family cope with the harsh realities of losing a
loved one.
    Unfortunately, this is not an imaginary situation for murder victim
family members here in New Mexico or around the country.
    The day my son Jeffery was killed, the violence of it was overwhelming.
I, and everyone around me— family, friends, and colleagues— were shocked.
The experience was devastating.
    In that moment, my family needed help to cope with the tragedy, trauma
and loss. Later, we needed a little help to rebuild our lives. That's why I
believe that we should replace the death penalty in New Mexico with life
without the possibility of parole, and use the millions of dollars the state
would save to support and expand services for the families of victims.
    Convicted murderers deserve the toughest of sentences and our
communities require the best protection— murderers must never be allowed to
kill again. But the death penalty isn't the only, or best, way to do that.
    Recent studies and stories make it clear that our capital punishment
system is fundamentally flawed. A murderer does not receive the death
penalty based solely on the heinous nature of the crime. Being sentenced to
death more often depends on where you live, your race or ethnicity, if you
can afford a private attorney, or whether a plea bargain for a lesser
sentence can be negotiated.
    Worse, more than 115 people have been released from death row,
exonerated: that is about one out of every eight people actually executed.
    Spending our precious state resources on such an error-prone system is
poor public policy to say the least. Especially when the vast sums of money
poured into death penalty cases can be better spent on services for murder
victim family members and law enforcement.
    And I say this as a Republican.
    Families need help to heal, to cope with our loss, to manage reduced
family income and to pay unplanned court and funeral expenses. We also
require employment protections so that we can actively participate in court
proceedings and other aspects of the criminal justice process.
    The proposed Catastrophic Crime & Family Restitution Program would fund
a model "homicide survivors program" that offers grief counseling, services
for children, funeral assistance, crime scene cleanup and emergency funds;
it would establish a Crime Victim's Hotline; would enact a new Catastrophic
Family Leave Act to grant unpaid leave for victims' families when they must
take time from work to attend court; would establish tuition waivers for the
children of murder victims at state colleges; and would replace the death
penalty with true life without parole.
    Today, my son's murderer sits on Florida's death row awaiting an
execution I oppose. More killing is not what I want surrounding Jeffery at
the end of his story. We must choose hope, and the future, not death. New
Mexico can, and should, lead the country by example. It is time to focus on
the survivors and not the killers. As one who knows the pain of murder, I
believe we must replace the death penalty with life without parole.

Pat Songer is an Albuquerque resident. Copyright, New Mexico Editorial
Forum. Letters should be sent to the Forum, P.O. Box 32781, Santa Fe, NM
87594-2871




NM Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty
info at nmrepeal.org
(505) 986-9536


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