Tough-on-crime legislation unanimously passed by the New Mexico House late last week will make a difference to families of murder victims, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
Lujan Grisham applauded the passage on Feb. 11 of House Bill 79 (HB 79), crime reform legislation that removes the state's six-year statute of limitations in second-degree murder cases, in addition to increasing penalties. The bill is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Making dozens of unsolved homicides eligible for prosecution and resolution when they are solved will have an incredible effect on New Mexico families across the state," Lujan Grisham said in her statement, issued the same day. "This important legislation will ensure that the road to justice for families of victims is preserved."
The bipartisan legislation, sent to the Senate with less than a week to go in this year's 30-day session, was sponsored by Reps. Daymon Ely (D-Corrales), Antonio "Moe" Maestas (D-Albuquerque), and William "Bill" R. Rehm (R-Albuquerque). Senate sponsors are Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque) and Marian Matthews (D-Albuquerque).
In addition to eliminating the statute of limitations in second-degree murder cases and raising the crime's maximum penalty from 15 to 18 years, HB 79 also raises the maximum sentence for attempted second-degree murder from three to nine years.
That essentially stiffens penalties for second-degree and attempted second-degree murder in the state, Maestas told KOB 4.
"Murder one and murder two should be the two stiffest penalties on the books, and then everything else should be relative to that, so this will put it as the second stiffest penalty in New Mexico," Maestas said in KOB 4's news story published on the same day HB 79 passed the House.
Under current New Mexico law, criminals can end up with harsher penalties for other crimes, Maestas said.
"A drug trafficker can do 18 years, a murderer – if you can't prove first-degree – only does 15," Maestas said.
Lujan Grisham announced her priority public safety legislation for the upcoming session with a focus on keeping violent offenders off the streets and improving public safety statewide.
"We can place a wedge in the revolving door of repeat violent offenders by creating a rebuttable presumption to ensure individuals accused of violent crimes do not pose a danger to the community before being released pending trial," the governor said in her Jan. 13 announcement. "Violent offenders have no place on our streets."