The Gary Johnson Poll

Up in the lobby of the Governor's Office yesterday afternoon I ran into a police detective I knew from my cop reporter days, Gary Johnson, who now holds the rank of captain.

Johnson was waiting to urge Gov. Bill Richardson to veto HB285, which would repeal the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without possibility of parole. His argument was that Santa Fe Police were able to crack two old murder cases and get a confession out of serial killer David Bruce Morton back in 2003 because Morton feared the death penalty.

You can read my story HERE.

Seeing Capt. Johnson reminded me that last week I talked to former Gov. Gary Johnson, no relation, who was governor in 2001 when child-killer Terry Clark was executed. Gov. Johnson now is opposed to the death penalty, which he said one day will lead to New Mexico executing an innocent person -- like we almost did in the Vagos case back in the '70s. (See that story HERE.)

So my poll of Gary Johnsons on the subject of the death penalty is evenly split, 50/50.