Death Penalty

CHESTERTOWN - The parents of Richard Wayne "Richie" Spicknall III and Destiny Array Spicknall spoke in a packed Kent County courtroom yesterday - one to remember the slain youngsters and try to move on, the other to acknowledge that not even a lifetime in prison can change what he did. Clutching baby blankets that had belonged to her children, Lisa Marie Spicknall spoke quietly, tearfully, yet remained composed as she recalled favorite memories and...

At great political peril, George Ryan did the right thing. Not to canonize the man. After all, the then-governor of Illinois was later imprisoned on corruption charges. But that doesn't change the fact that, in 2000, stung that 13 inmates had been exonerated and freed from death row in the previous 23 years, Mr. Ryan committed an act of profound moral courage, imposing a moratorium on capital punishment. In 2003, in the waning days of his term, he one-upped himself, commuting every death sentence in his state.

No doubt that making sure only the guilty are executed must be done 100 percent of the time. And as The Sun's editorial ("Double Victims," Feb. 27) opines by quoting Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger saying, "we're as close to infallible as you can be in Maryland now," we should have confidence that the death penalty is meeting the 100 percent standard. Mr. Shellenberger is referring to the revised law passed just two years ago that only allows a death penalty when there is physical evidence, such as DNA, or a videotaped confession.

I am really getting tired of the invective and sarcasm shown by the likes of The Sun and MSNBC ("Don't save the planet" May 3). It is less and less logic and more just "shouting down the enemy". I guess Andrew Green , Rachel Maddow, and others are reading from the same playbook. I am for a balanced budget, the 2nd Amendment, the death penalty in some circumstances, and a fetus' right to live in the third trimester (or later as some liberals seem to think it's OK to terminate kids outside the womb)

Connecticut Gov.Dannel P. Malloyhas signed a bill outlawing the death penalty, which passed both the House and the Senate with bi-partisan support. Connecticut is the 5th state in five years and the 17th state in the nation to have abandoned the death penalty. The criminal justice system, like all human institutions, is imperfect. Where the death penalty is concerned, it isn't a question of whether the state has executed an innocent person. The only relevant questions are when has the state done so, and how often.

New Jersey became the first state in decades yesterday to abolish the death penalty, giving hope to opponents of capital punishment that Maryland and other states could soon follow. But the obstacles to passing a repeal or even a moratorium in the General Assembly next month remain high. Key lawmakers concede that the legislature is as polarized over the emotionally charged issue as it was last year, when a bill seeking a repeal was defeated by one vote in a Senate committee. Still, the news of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's decision to sign the repeal bill yesterday and to commute the sentences of the state's eight death-row inmates led many to believe that the momentum in Maryland will be on the opponents' side.

At the time of her brother's arrest and trial, Patricia Booth-Townes supported the death penalty — "an eye for an eye," as she put it. Even after her brother was sentenced to die, she says, she didn't waver. She just didn't believe he'd committed that heinous crime, despite the evidence presented in court. But years later, while studying criminal justice at Coppin State University, she found herself researching capital punishment. She almost couldn't avoid it, she said, because her textbook mentioned her brother's case, which set a constitutional precedent for the use of "victim impact statements" in sentencing.

This is why I believe in the death penalty ("Lori, O'Malley, others ask death penalty's end," Feb. 15). As a combat infantryman in World War II, my function was to kill people of whom I had no knowledge. If I was extraordinarily good at this, my actions would be celebrated, and I would be recognized. I'll make an assumption as to the kind of life that many of these people awaiting execution had. They came from a dysfunctional family, very poor, drugs, not much education, etc. We all know the story.

With the more sophisticated tools now available to prove guilt, it is even more imperative that the death penalty be retained. ("Double victims," Feb. 27.) Certainly there are crimes so heinous that they cannot be overlooked by society. No murderer should feel that he or she is immune to the ultimate sentence, whether carried out or not. Expediency in trying cases many times has led to reduced sentences and in the worst-case scenario release of individuals to once again prey on society.

The so called "Maryland Citizens Against State Executions" do not have a clue as to what the process could be for the death penalty. Several states have the process, including appeals down to as little time as 5 years. It is not the death penalty that punishes victims, it is the structure of the death penalty in liberal Maryland that does. The Sarah Foxwell case "cried out for the death penalty" but the State's Attorney agreed to pursure a lesser punishment. As for closure for the family, do you not think that the family thinks quite often about how the individual who viciously murdered their family member is sitting in a prison watching TV, playing games, enjoying the outdoors and seeing their family while they cannot!

One day after Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation to abolish capital punishment in Maryland, death penalty supporters said Friday they will launch a petition drive to give voters the opportunity to overturn the new law. At a news conference, Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger said he plans to lead the effort to "repeal the repeal" of the state's death penalty. "We need to retain the death penalty for those prosecutors who wish to seek it because it is simply the right thing to do for public safety," said Shellenberger, a Democrat.

Gov. Martin O'Malley will sign legislation Thursday morning abolishing capital punishment in Maryland -- a goal of his since he took office in 2007. The governor's approval will make Maryland the 18th state to repeal the death penalty. A throng of capital punshment opponents -- representing such groups as the NAACP and the Catholic church -- is expected to turn out for the bill-signing ceremony at the State House in Annapolis. Also on a signing list of more than 200 bills are measures establishing a legal medical marijuana program and making it easier for immigrants who are here illegally to obtain limited-use driver's licenses.

Regarding Dan Rodricks ' commentary on drugs at the city detention center, don't opinion columnists belong on the op-ed page, not in the news section ("Scandal at jail another symptom of war on drugs," April 27)? Mr. Rodricks blames a large share of crime and corruption on the drug war, and he advocates for decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana, cocaine and heroin. That would lead to a world of addicted people roaming the streets and driving cars in a drug-induced haze, with no motivation to work or be productive members of their families or of society.

Well, it was a wonderful General Assembly session ("What's left for O'Malley," April 14). No matter what kind of heinous crime you commit, you never have to fear the death penalty. There are now more restrictions on the law-abiding gun owners when it's the criminals and certain mentally ill individuals who commit these mass murders. There will be a higher gas tax which will really hurt middle- and low-income people, and last but not least, there's a rain tax! I think instead of living in Maryland, I'm living in Wonderland.

With a productive General Assembly session behind him, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Wednesday that he will use the second half of the year to consider whether to run for the White House. "I need to be spending a lot more energy and time giving serious consideration and preparation to what - if anything - I might have to offer should I decide to run for president in 2016," O'Malley said during a wide-ranging interview with editors of The Baltimore Sun. O'Malley has typically demurred from answering questions about his potential candidacy, though it has been the subject of news articles and rampant political speculation both in and outside of Maryland.

Sen. Edward R. Reilly, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, announced Tuesday that he will seek re-election in his Anne Arundel County district. Reilly, 63, is a former Anne Arundel County councilman who was appointed to the 33rd District Senate seat in 2009 and elected in 2010. He is a consistent conservative whose pro-life views led him to cast one of two Republican votes in favor of repeal of the death penalty. A Crofton resident, Reilly also holds a jobs as a Nationwide Insurance representative.

I would like to talk about the death penalty issue being discussed in Annapolis ("Senators wrestle with death penalty vote," Jan. 28). The problem I have with the death penalty is that when a person kills someone, the killer will not die for his actions. He will have a life in prison with free medical care, free food, free clothes and free heat and air conditioning and watch television. If they need a kidney or heart transplant, they can be on the waiting list for a donor organ. Gov. Martin O'Malley is wrong when he said that it cost too much money to have a death penalty.

If the senseless and brutal murder of 23-year-old Stephen Pitcairn does not lead to a prosecution by Patricia Jessamy that seeks a death sentence penalty, then something is terribly wrong with the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office. Morty Marcus