FOR 9TH TIME, CUOMO VETOES DEATH PENALTY.(Local)

Byline: Robert Bellafiore Associated Press

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, for the ninth consecutive year and as expected, vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have restored New York's death penalty.

A legislative override was unlikely. The bill's chief sponsor in the Democratic-controlled state Assembly said he did not believe he could muster the two-thirds vote needed.

Unless that changes, Cuomo's veto means the death penalty has been killed for another year.

It's the 15th year that a New York governor has vetoed the death penalty. Then-Gov. Hugh Carey rejected the death penalty six times.

"The death penalty legitimizes the ultimate act …