A state commission reviewing capital punishment recommended last night an end to executions in Maryland, prompting hope among death penalty opponents that the General Assembly could soon abolish the 30-year practice.
The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment voted 13-7 to make the recommendation. It found that the death penalty carries the "real possibility" of executing innocent people and may be biased against blacks.
The final report of the 23-member commission is expected to provide additional ammunition to Gov. Martin O'Malley and other death penalty opponents in their uphill fight to stop state executions. Previous repeal efforts have narrowly failed despite high-profile campaigns by O'Malley, a Roman Catholic and ardent opponent of capital punishment.
An O'Malley spokesman said last night that the Democratic governor looks forward to reading the final report, which is due next month. The governor has lobbied for a death-penalty repeal and vowed to sign it if the legislature passes it.
"I would hope the recommendation of the commission .... would have some persuasive merit before the legislature," said panel chairman Benjamin R. Civiletti, a Baltimore lawyer who served as U.S. attorney general under President Jimmy Carter.
Civiletti said the majority vote, which he joined, reflects a consensus on the panel that "the capital punishment system as it is administered and exists in Maryland doesn't really work" and is "arbitrary and capricious."
But death penalty proponents took comfort in what they characterized as a close vote. Supporters of capital punishment had previously pointed out that a majority of the board, created by the legislature, was appointed by an anti-death penalty governor.
"Tonight was a night to really figure out where people actually stood," said Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger, a panel member who plans to write the minority's opinion for the final commission report. "The vote is a testament to how close this issue is in the state of Maryland."
The final decision rests with the General Assembly, where a key Senate panel has voted down a death penalty repeal, preventing it from reaching the chamber floor for a vote.
While executions in Maryland are infrequent, the issue is being scrutinized here and nationwide because of high-profile exonerations of wrongly convicted death-row inmates.
