Efforts to repeal the death penalty in Maryland were dealt an apparently fatal blow yesterday when a key state Senate committee defeated the measure, leaving a court-ordered moratorium on state executions in place and some legislators weighing a study of the issue.
Weeks of behind-the-scenes wrangling and lobbying by religious and law enforcement officials culminated yesterday with the bill's defeat in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on a tie vote.
Sen. Alex X. Mooney, the Frederick Republican and devout Catholic who was expected to swing the Senate vote, did not support the repeal after trying unsuccessfully to exempt prisoners who kill again while serving a jail term. He told the committee that he struggled with the choice.
FOR THE RECORD - An article on the front page of yesterday's editions of The Sun incorrectly reported the occupation of state Sen. Lisa A. Gladden. She is a public defender.
The Sun regrets the error.
"I have decided that a full and absolute repeal of the death penalty under all circumstances is not in the best interest for the common good of Maryland's citizens," he said.
Six votes were needed on the 11-member committee to pass the bill, which had the support of Gov. Martin O'Malley. The committee's decision, one vote short, is likely to bury the measure for the General Assembly session, even though a similar bill is still in play in the House Judiciary Committee.
Without the Senate's backing, the House sponsor of the repeal bill said yesterday that he will not call for a vote. The bill could still be petitioned directly to the Senate floor, but the bill's sponsor said she lacks the votes to win passage there.
Rick Abbruzzese, an O'Malley spokesman, said the governor is disappointed in the Senate committee vote but is weighing the best course of action.
"While we had hoped that the legislature would repeal the death penalty, the governor will take the next few weeks to consider his options moving forward," he said.
Though Maryland lawmakers have in recent years considered similar repeal proposals, this session's bill was debated with greater urgency as a result of a December Court of Appeals ruling effectively halting executions. The court determined that the state's lethal injection procedures should be reviewed by the legislature and adopted as regulations. Until those guidelines are in place, the high court said, inmates cannot be executed.
A bill to sidestep that process and exempt the lethal injection protocols from that review failed, however, in the House Judiciary Committee.
