Gov. Bill Richardson Signs Bill Ending the Death Penalty

Great news from New Mexico. Governor Bill Richardson today signed the bill passed by the legislature abolishing the death penalty. He called it "the "most difficult decision in my political life."

"Faced with the reality that our system for imposing the death penalty can never be perfect, my conscience compels me to replace the death penalty with a solution that keeps society safe," the Democratic governor said at a news conference in the Capitol.

The death penalty will be replaced by life without the possibility of parole. New Mexico becomes the second state to end the death penalty since the Supreme Court restored it in 1976.

Total number of states now without a death penalty? 15. And hopefully rising.