George Pataki
Polls showed that the majority of New Yorkers wanted the state's death penalty laws restored. A bill to restore the death penalty passed the Legislature several years in a row, only to be vetoed by Mario Cuomo. Pataki made the issue a top priority of his and when the bill reached his desk he signed it into law in 1995. The state's Court of Appeals later ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in the form in which it was written (in the case of People v. LaValle), and the State Legislature has not passed a bill to restore it in a new form. During Pataki's 12 years as governor, not a single person was executed in New York State.
David Paterson
According to state Senator Liz Krueger, Paterson has always been against capital punishment. In July 2008, he ordered the removal of the state's equipment to perform lethal injection, previously housed in Dutchess County's Green Haven Correctional Facility. In spring 2008, the state Senate passed a bill that would make murderers of policemen eligible for execution. The state Assembly did pass a similar bill, but in any event it was certain that Paterson would not sign it, and there is no longer any death penalty in New York.