Maryland: State drafts lethal injection rules

The administration of Gov. Martin O'Malley took a giant step toward restoring Maryland's death penalty on Wednesday, as the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services completed draft regulations on performing executions by lethal injection.

Maryland has had a de facto death-penalty moratorium since December 2006, when the state's highest court invalidated the states execution protocols because they had not been adopted in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

The draft lethal-injection regulations, which must be reviewed by a legislative committee and published for public comment, comply with the high courts decision in Evans v. State, state officials said.

Completion of the draft regulations follows an unsuccessful legislative effort this year to repeal the state's death penalty, an attempt O'Malley backed. A compromise measure was passed that greatly restricts the use of capital punishment.

O'Malley praised the new law and said he had no choice but to allow the drafting of new protocols to move forward after the repeal effort failed.

"These new regulations mark an important step in ensuring that the death penalty in Maryland is carried out in a manner consistent with state and federal law," O'Malley said in a statement after the draft regulations were released. "While I personally oppose the death penalty, I took an oath to uphold the laws of our state."

Anti-death penalty advocate Jane Henderson expressed strong concern that the proposed lethal-injection protocols call for the continued use of Pancuronium. The paralytic drug immobilizes the condemned making them unable to express any pain they might otherwise be experiencing, said Henderson, executive director of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions.

Henderson said she welcomed that the proposed lethal-injection regulations will be spelled out in their entirety and submitted for public comment, rather than exposed piecemeal or through litigation.

"It is nice to finally have this all out in the public domain," she said. "Up until now it's been pretty secretive."

The proposed lethal-injection regulations would do the following:

* Clarify prohibitions preventing a Department of Corrections employee from performing a medical procedure known as a "cut down" in which an incision is made to expose a vein at the time of execution in order to administer the injections;

* Reinforce requirements for pre-execution examination of the convict to determine appropriate locations to insert intravenous needles necessary for execution;

* Reduce from 4 hours to 3 hours the time before execution that the condemned may have visitors, excluding attorney and clergy;

* Require that an inmate with multiple attorneys decide which one, if requested, witnesses the execution;

* Require a contracted paramedic to be immediately outside the execution area if a certified paramedic is not on the execution team; and

* Clarify existing requirements for non-Department of Corrections execution team members to have appropriate credentials to perform assigned duties.

The regulations will next be reviewed by the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR), a 20-member panel consisting of 10 members each from the Senate and House of Delegates. The committee will determine if the proposed rules comport with state law and procedural due process.

The proposed regulations will also be published within the next 30 days in the Maryland Register, marking the start of a 30-day public comment period.

"I feel comfortable the General Assemblys AELR Committee will find that these draft regulations meet the requirements set forth in Evans v. State," said Gary D. Maynard, secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, in a prepared statement. "It has always been the duty of the department to carry out the laws and regulations of the state of Maryland. These new regulations will ensure we can meet those obligations."

Source: The Md Daily Record, June 25, 2009