Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gene Edward Franchini, who died Wednesday, opposed mandatory sentencing, the death penalty and government secrecy.

Franchini, 74, collapsed from a heart attack while addressing first-year law students at The University of New Mexico during his annual lecture on ethics.

"He was an authentic person with exemplary integrity," Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward L. Chavez said in a written statement. "His passion for life and the law was contagious."

Born May 19, 1935, in Albuquerque to Mario and Lena Franchini whose parents immigrated from Italy, Franchini graduated from St. Mary's School where he played quarterback on the high-school football team.

He attended Loyola University of the South in New Orleans, then graduated from UNM, took a law degree from Georgetown University and a master's of law from the University of Virginia, then returned to his hometown to practice law in 1960.

"He was the quintessential plaintiffs' lawyer," said his youngest daughter, Nancy Franchini, herself an attorney in Albuquerque. "Personal injury-type stuff, but not only that. It could be contracts. It could be business. The stuff that we do today is not like they did back then. That's when they did it all. Whereas now we're super specialized."

Former Gov. Jerry Apodaca appointed Franchini, a Democrat, as a Second Judicial District judge in 1975. In 1981, Franchini resigned to protest the Legislature's decision to make some sentences mandatory — something he compared to Nazism.

"The administration of justice has always been and still is one of the great loves of my life," he said. "I personally cannot and therefore will not now prostitute it or myself."

After returning to private practice for almost a decade, Franchini ran for a seat on the New Mexico Supreme Court. He easily defeated Francesca Lobato of Santa Fe in the primary, and narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Kenneth Wilson in the general election.

After retiring from the high court in 2002, Franchini began to speak out on issues — something he avoided as a sitting judge. He showed up at the 2003 Legislature to tell the House Judiciary Committee that a flawed legal system prevents "fair and equal application" of capital punishment.

"If the best way to be extremely cautious is to get rid of it altogether, so be it," he said. That didn't happen until New Mexico repealed the death penalty this year.

In the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, Franchini began to question the U.S. Patriot Act and the war on terrorism. In a speech to the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, Franchini accused the federal government of playing on people's fears and apathy to take away their rights.

Speaking to the same group in 2007, Franchini called secrecy "the antithesis to all that a representative democracy stands for. It keeps the people in the dark and destroys any opportunity they may have to speak out for or against any government action. ...

"When access to government activity is denied or restricted in any way and access to the opportunity to observe that activity is stopped, democracy dies."

Franchini was preceded in death by his parents and a daughter, Laura Franchini Basham. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Glynnie Franchini of Albuquerque, and children Pamela Trent, Joseph "Jamie" Elias of Albuquerque, Gina Franchini of Olympia, Wash., and Nancy Franchini of Albuquerque.

A rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. tonight at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Albuquerque. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9 a.m. Saturday at the same church. Burial will follow at Gate of Heaven cemetery.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.