New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez will push to reinstate the death penalty in response to the killing of a municipal police officer in the south of the state and other recent events.

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In 2009, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was praised by the pope for getting the death penalty repealed, but now current Gov. Susana Martinez wants to reinstate it.She said with so many police officers being shot and killed in recent years and the deaths of children, she wants to bring it back.“If the man that ambushed five police officers in Dallas had lived, that man deserve the ultimate punishment, which is the death penalty,” Martinez said.Recent fatal shootings of New Mexico police officers has led to Martinez asking lawmakers to bring the death penalty back. She also said it's not just the murders of police officers that has her wanting to bring it back to New Mexico, but also sex offenders.“People need to ask themselves do those people that are charged deserve the ultimate penalty, which is the death penalty. I say yes they do and it includes those that murder young children and sexually abuse them such as Ashlynne Mike up in the Navajo Nation,” Martinez said.The governor will bring the issue up with lawmakers in January.“As a prosecutor for 25 years, I’ve seen what people can do to each other,” Martinez said.The Archdiocese released a statement regarding the issue Thursday afternoon:“The repeal of the death penalty in 2009 was a milestone, moving New Mexico from a culture of violence to a culture of peace, justice, and love. The Catholic Bishops of New Mexico, in one voice, once again echo the teaching of the church, that life is sacred.” The year before Richardson repealed the death penalty, a man who admitted to killing five people managed to avoid the death penalty. Clifton Bloomfield reached a plea deal that put him behind bars for 195 years. Bloomfield is now appealing that.In 2001, Terry Clark became the first inmate to be executed in New Mexico in 41 years. That was the last time the death penalty was used in our state.In 1986, Clark, a ranch hand and convicted child molester, kidnapped and murdered 9-year-old Dena Lynn Gore.After spending years behind bars, Clark told the courts he wanted to die. Dozens of people held vigils outside the state pen before and during his execution. Also in 1986, then Gov. Toney Anaya emptied death row, commuting five inmates' sentences to life in prison instead of death.That outraged many New Mexicans, especially members of crime victims' families. Anaya says he doesn't regret his decision.