Gov. O'Malley backs death penalty repeal

[Judi Lynn]

Friday January 26, 2007
Gov. O'Malley backs death penalty repeal
by ANDREW SCHOTZ [e-mail]

ANNAPOLIS - Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday that he'd sign a bill repealing Maryland's death penalty, a bill that sponsors plan to introduce by this morning's session.

"Yeah, I sure would," O'Malley said during a State House interview. "We're wasting a lot of money pursuing a policy that doesn't work to reduce crime or to save lives when we could be putting that money into crime reduction. I'm much more in favor of life without parole."

The lead sponsors - Sen. Lisa A. Gladden and Del. Samuel I. "Sandy" Rosenberg, both Baltimore City Democrats - on Thursday called the death penalty an unreliable, expensive, biased and immoral form of punishment.

"It doesn't work," said Gladden, a public defender whose recent repeal bills have failed. "The system's broken."
(snip/...)

http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=157277&format=html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Death penalty repeal sought
O'Malley backs bills to replace executions with life without parole
By Jennifer Skalka
Sun reporter
Originally published January 26, 2007

Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that he would sign a repeal of the death penalty if a bill reaches his desk, weighing in on the contentious issue hours after a coalition of legislators and activists renewed their push to strike Maryland's execution law from the books.
(snip)

Democratic lawmakers introduced a new legislative proposal yesterday that would replace the death penalty with life without the possibility of parole for the most violent criminals. Sponsored by Sen. Lisa A. Gladden and Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, both Baltimore Democrats, the bills come on the heels of a Maryland Court of Appeals ruling in December that halted executions until lawmakers develop appropriate oversight for the administration of lethal injections.

Five convicted murderers have been executed in Maryland since 1978, including two under warrants signed by former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a death penalty supporter who left office this month.

But with a new Democratic governor and growing national worry about how the punishment is administered and whether race is a factor, the sponsors said the time is right to rekindle a serious debate in Annapolis.
(snip/...)

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.death26jan26,0,885356.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

[BayCityProgressive]

1. Awesome!

[qanda]

2. Just the fact that it is rarely carried out

Should be enough to have it repealed.

[brentspeak]

3. Disagree. Murderers deserve the death penalty.

The death penalty has been misapplied in the past, no question. But so have all other sentences.

[Book Lover]

6. Your casual acceptance of state-sanctioned death is troubling to me

I must wonder how strongly you would oppose other errors in the application of governmental authority in life-and-death situations, seeing as how you seem to shed no tears for the executed innocents in our prisons.

As for myself, I see no reason to put a gun in the government's hands, if you will. If it is not enough that the state may box a citizen away from all society for her or his natural life, why limit the state's authority to the taking of one (rightly or wrongly) convicted citizen's life? Why not allow the state to put that gun into every willing citizen's hand and let those citizens slay all of the state's designated enemies? Where would you draw the line?

[Alexander]

7. Death penalty mistakes lead to KILLING innocent people.

But I guess that's acceptable to you, if it means satisfying some strange sick desire for revenge.

[Judi Lynn]

8. The effect of a "misapplied" death sentence is grotesque, not an acceptable risk.

There is no moral basis for the death penalty.

[Solon]

9. So you think innocent people were executed by the state? n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. "misapplied" death penalty = murder.

I guess you're not to worried about that kind of murder.

[LeftCoast]

4. Good for Gov. O'Malley!

The death penalty has done nothing to reduce crime and is nothing but state sanctioned murder.

[hashibabba]

5. It's far cheaper to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives,

where they will have to suffer with the knowledge of what they've done.

Not to mention, with all the DNA results coming out and exonerating prisioners, there's no way I'd condone murdering one of them. Is it OK if even ONE person is executed because he's innocent?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. A number of yars ago, it was revealed that the majority of those on Death Row

were black males convicted of murdering white people. In fact, it wasn't just the majority; it was an overwhelming majority which reeked of racism...toward both convicts and victims.

There are a lot of bloodthirsty vengeance-mongers in this state, though. I hope O'Malley can sell the need to end this barbaric practice.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. I just knew I was going to like this guy!

:bounce: