A judge rejected the death penalty for a prison inmate convicted in the shooting death of a Western Maryland correctional officer, calling him "an evil man" but saying yesterday that he wanted to spare the victim's family from the repeated appeals that accompany a death sentence.
Circuit Judge Joseph P. Manck instead sentenced Brandon T. Morris to life in prison with no chance of parole.
The judge, who recalled his experience with the murder of his mother, said he was persuaded by testimony about Morris' neglectful and abusive childhood, along with concerns that correctional officer Jeffery A. Wroten's family would be dragged into courtrooms for years to come.
FOR THE RECORD
An article in Tuesday's editions about a Howard County capital sentencing hearing reported that it has been a decade since a death sentence was imposed in Maryland that was not subsequently overturned by the state's appellate courts. During the same period, however, there have been two death sentences imposed by federal juries in Maryland that have not been overturned.
"It is, without question, the most cruel and unusual punishment for surviving victims to go through," Manck said of the appeals process, which in some capital cases in Maryland has lasted more than two decades.
"It's an outrageous situation to be in," he said. "It's an outrageous way to punish victims even more than what they've already suffered."
Morris' sentencing in Howard County Circuit Court comes during a de facto moratorium on executions in Maryland and as the General Assembly is expected to again debate a repeal of the state's death penalty law during this legislative session.
The Morris case is the third in the past eight months in which Maryland judges and juries have declined to impose the death penalty. It has been a decade since a death sentence was imposed in Maryland that has not since been overturned by the state's appellate courts.
Katy O'Donnell, chief of the capital defense division of the state public defender's office, said the recent decisions suggest that Maryland judges and juries are reluctant to impose the ultimate sanction.
"I think that's the pattern that's being established," she said. O'Donnell commended Manck for "his thoughtful reflection, his detailed attention to the evidence, his sensitivity to Mr. Wroten's family and his courage to impose the appropriate sentence under all the circumstances."
But some correctional officers, and the victim's family, say criminals such as Morris should be put to death because they pose a threat to officers and society.
Mark Martin, a captain at the Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, said that while security can be enhanced for Morris, it would come at a high cost.
"I believe that he presents an enormous risk," Martin said.
