Court ruling moves death penalty debate to state lawmakers BALTIMORE - A ruling by Maryland's highest court that temporarily halts executions in Maryland could give legislators who oppose capital punishment a chance to stop executions indefinitely in the state, some lawmakers say.
But death penalty supporters argue the matter shouldn't be left to languish.
Delegate Anne Healey, who is the incoming chairwoman of a joint legislative committee that would examine the state's execution procedures under the court ruling, said the ruling has given lawmakers a chance to impose a moratorium on executions.
"Certainly it seems like this is an opportunity to have a moratorium without having to go through all the angst of having a major debate about it across the state," Healey, a Prince George's County Democrat who opposes the death penalty, told The (Baltimore) Sun.
Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, who also chairs the committee and is a death penalty opponent, said he's not in a rush to move forward with the review process.
Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley, who personally opposes the death penalty, has said he would look to the court for guidance on the issue, and a spokesman said the incoming administration was reviewing the court opinion.
"There will be time to discuss this issue in-depth after the transition process," said Rick Abbruzzese, the spokesman.
However, some legislators and activists who support the death penalty say the issue shouldn't be put off.
"I'm sure that death penalty opponents - of whom the governor-elect is one - would love to kill the death penalty through inaction in a way that would muddy the issue for voters," said Michael Paranzino, president of Throw Away The Key, a Kensington-based pro-death penalty group. "O'Malley would not want to face the voters in four years having directly repealed the death penalty. So he may try this backhanded, inaction method."
The court's ruling was issued days after decisions in Florida and California to halt executions because of concerns about lethal injection procedures.
The Court of Appeals issued its ruling on Tuesday in the case of death row inmate Vernon Evans Jr., 57. He was convicted of murdering two motel employees in Pikesville in 1983.
His execution was postponed in February when the Court of Appeals decided to hear four appeals. The court's Tuesday ruling rejected three of them. One raised questions about racial disparities in how the death penalty is applied in Maryland. In another appeal, lawyers argued that nearly all black jurors in his 1984 trial were improperly excluded from the jury. The other appeal was based on an argument that his lawyer at a 1992 re-sentencing hearing should have presented evidence of Evans' difficult childhood.
Tuesday's ruling focused instead on how Maryland's execution procedures were drafted. The court found that state's Execution Operations Manual and its checklist of lethal injection procedures should be considered regulations. As a result, they require public hearings and review by a joint legislative panel. The judges also decided that the legislature could avoid that process by exempting the manual from that review.
Karen Poe, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said that the agency is currently reviewing the court decision. Poe said additional court appeals were possible.
"It is a tedious, time-consuming process that can take months and months," Poe said.
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