Maryland Becomes Latest State to Seek End to Death Penalty

The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment this week released its final report, calling for an end to capital punishment and making Maryland the latest state in the nation to move toward abolishing the death penalty.

"After a thorough review of this information, the Commission recommends that capital punishment be abolished in Maryland," the report reads.

The commission's chairman, former U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, said during a press conference held for the report's release, "There is no good and sufficient reason to have the death penalty and plenty of reasons against it."

Later, in an exclusive interview with WEAA/AFRO First Edition radio talk show, Civiletti said, The death penalty is a difficult and complex issue regardless of who considers it, whether it is our court of appeals or the Supreme Court."

In reaching its conclusion, the commission's report cited among its primary concerns the existence of racial and jurisdictional disparities in the state's capital sentencing system.

"Where you have a Black accused and a White victim, you have almost three times the likelihood of the death penalty being part of the process," said Civiletti, who was appointed the commissions chairman by Gov. Martin O'Malley, Maryland Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller Jr. and Maryland Speaker of the House Michael Busch.

Civiletti added that administering the ultimate penalty in a system plagued by disparities is inherently perilous.

"The death penalty is a very difficult penalty to administer error-free and as a result there is always the real possibility of having an innocent winding up on death row. The real danger (of the death penalty) couldnt be better epitomized than by Kirk Bloodsworth," he said.

Bloodsworth, a Maryland resident and the 1st person sentenced to death row to be exonerated by DNA evidence, was also a member of the commission that Civiletti chaired.

"As a former death row inmate, it's hard to imagine how truly honored I am today," Bloodsworth said during the press conference.

In 1984, Bloodsworth was accused of the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl and sentenced to death on March 8, 1985. The ruling was appealed a year later and he received a new trial but was found guilty a second time and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

Finally, on June 28, 1993, Bloodsworth was released from prison after DNA evidence cleared him of the crime.

"There's a real possibility to execute an innocent person and I know that for myself," he said. The commission voted 13-9 to abolish the death penalty, with one abstention. Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger voiced the minority opinion.

"The close vote on the commission's findings regarding the death penalty in Maryland demonstrates that this is an issue upon which reasonable minds can differ," Shellenberger said in a statement.

"It is my strong belief that the death penalty should remain a sentencing option for those prosecutors who wish to seek it."

During the press conference, Shellenberger specifically balked at some of the commission's findings. "There was absolutely no evidence of racial discrimination by any official in the state," he said.

"There was absolutely no evidence the 5 who've been executed or the 5 on death row are innocent."

However, there are many in the Maryland General Assembly who hope the commission's recommendation will give opponents of capital punishment during the upcoming legislative session the leverage to make Maryland the 16th state (including the District of Columbia) with no death penalty.

"I believe the overwhelming weight of the report will be persuasive with our colleagues," said state Del. Sandy Rosenberg, who represents the 41st legislative district in Baltimore City, and who served as one of the commissioners.

5 men have been put to death by lethal injection in Maryland since the state resumed capital punishment in 1978 following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1976.

The last was Wesley Eugene Baker, an African American who was executed Dec. 4, 2005, for the murder of Jane Tyson, 49, a White teacher's aide in June 1991 at Westview Mall.

Bloodsworth, who was officially pardoned in December 1993 by then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer, hopes Baker was the last person executed in the state of Maryland.

"There is nothing more safe or strong in an emergency of life as the simple truth," said Bloodsworth, quoting Charles Dickens.

Bloodsworth added, "And here it is."

Source: Afro American National News, December 14, 2008