The Nation - News from Dec. 23, 1986

The New Mexico Supreme Court upheld Democratic Gov. Toney Anaya’s Nov. 26 commutations of the sentences of the state’s five Death Row inmates to life imprisonment. The court denied a challenge from Bernalillo County Dist. Atty. Steve Schiff without explanation. Anaya, who leaves office on Jan. 1 after serving a single term, the maximum allowed by law, had vowed since his campaign in 1982 that no one would be executed in the state during his tenure. Schiff had argued that the commutations were based on Anaya’s personal religious beliefs and were therefore in violation of the separation of church and state.