Manuel Trujillo: The Last Person Hanged in New Mexico (1909)

New Mexico's final judicial hanging took place on September 21, 1909. The condemned man was Manuel Trujillo.

Context

• Territory status: New Mexico was still a U.S. territory (statehood came in 1912).
• Method: Hanging was the prescribed execution method for capital crimes.
• Location: Likely carried out at the county level (records indicate Santa Fe or the county of conviction).

Transition to Statehood & the Electric Chair

After statehood, New Mexico adopted the electric chair in 1929 (first use: 1933). Later, lethal injection became the sole method (1980s). The death penalty was abolished in 2009 (not retroactive); the last execution was in 2001.

Historical Note

Trujillo's execution closed a chapter of territorial justice. Frontier hangings—often public, sometimes extrajudicial—were already fading as legal procedures formalized. His is the last legal hanging recorded in New Mexico's history.