If that happens and the bill goes to the floor, the Senate must then vote again to bring it up for preliminary approval, known as "second reader." At that point, the simple repeal bill would likely encounter a barrage of attempts by opponents to water it down with amendments. Too many amendments - such as allowing execution of child-killers or police-killers - could ultimately dilute support from repeal backers.
That's just one scenario envisioned by pro-repeal Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat and chairman of the committee that rejected the bill yesterday. Frosh said his "optimistic" assessment is that the repeal camp is "just one vote short" of resurrecting the bill and still needs to change minds.
Henderson, however, predicted victory on the floor and noted that lawmakers used the rare parliamentary technique when they reinstated the death penalty in 1978.
"It's an historical mirror," she said. "Maybe there's a little bit of poetry here."
For the handful of undecided Democratic senators such as Bobby Zirkin, a vote on the death penalty means disappointing either the leader of your chamber or your governor.
Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat, acknowledged the tension but said "nobody is pressuring me into doing anything." Zirkin said he has "no moral problems" with the death penalty, just nagging concerns about the chance that an innocent person might be executed. He said he planned to spend the weekend talking the issue over with as many constituents as possible.
The committee vote yesterday was a 5-5 tie, with pro-death penalty Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Harford County Republican, absent. Under committee rules, a bill requires an absolute committee majority to move to the full chamber.
Several of those delivering "no" votes said they would support a partial repeal, but an amendment from Sen. Alex X. Mooney, a Frederick County Republican, was rejected. Mooney's proposal would have allowed the death penalty only to punish a murderer who is already serving life without parole.
Sen. Bryan Simonaire, an Anne Arundel County Republican considered a potential swing vote this year, called his "no" vote a "heart-wrenching" decision.
"To me, it's not a political issue; it's an issue of the heart," said Simonaire, who was personally lobbied by O'Malley yesterday to support the repeal.
Simonaire said that he would favor limiting the death penalty only to cases where there is DNA evidence supporting a murder conviction but that he could not support a full repeal.
