Since Maryland reinstated capital punishment in 1978, five men have been put to death, most recently Wesley Eugene Baker on Dec. 5, 2005. Five others are on death row, including three men convicted in 1984.
State executions have been under an effective moratorium since December 2006, when Maryland's highest court ruled that lethal injection regulations had not been properly adopted. The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is still revising the protocols.
Death penalty opponents believe this is the year for a repeal. A lobbyist for the Maryland Catholic Conference vowed he would not "pull any punches. We're going to pull out all the stops."
And Henderson's organization, a coalition of anti-death penalty groups, recently hired D. Robert Enten and Timothy A. Perry to support other lobbyists they already have in place. Enten is a longtime fixture in the State House and one of the highest-paid lobbyists in Annapolis; Perry is a former chief of staff to Miller.
Gladden has said "the real challenge to the bill is Mike Miller," though the Senate president has insisted that he would not lobby on the bill or interfere with the legislative process. She said that if the repeal effort makes it out of committee, it would likely face another tough battle on the Senate floor, where it could be filibustered. On the House side, it appears there are enough votes to get it out of committee and passed on the floor.
Henderson said Civiletti and O'Malley would be "great champions" of repeal efforts.
"I think the governor will be able to influence some of the members in the Senate still weighing what they're going to do," she said. "This shows that they have the confidence that it can move through the General Assembly. The governor doesn't put bills in to lose."
Baltimore Sun reporter Laura Smitherman contributed to this article.
