With last month’s vote to repeal the death penalty, Maryland lawmakers handed Gov. Martin O’Malley a long-sought legislative victory — and a question that he has refused to answer: What is he going to do about the five prisoners on death row?
The new law won’t apply to them, and O’Malley (D) is facing a fresh push from his allies in the legislative fight to commute the five sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the harshest penalty that will remain on the books.
Since taking office in 2007, O’Malley, a practicing Catholic, has pressed for repeal of capital punishment with as much passion — and apparent disregard for the political risks — as any issue.
In high-profile testimony to the legislature this year, he said the death penalty is at odds with “our values as a people” and argued it wastes resources that could be spent on other crime-fighting strategies.
“There is no way to reverse our ‘mistake’ if we should execute an innocent person,” he said.
His reluctance to use his commutation powers, and perhaps leave the fate of death-row inmates to a successor, has become a mystery in Annapolis, where the General Assembly wraps up its 90-day session Monday.
O’Malley could have commuted the five sentences anytime since taking office. But with passage of the repeal bill, many are wondering, why not go ahead and do that now if abolishing capital punishment is such a priority?
In an interview, O’Malley, whose term ends in January 2015, indicated that he has no immediate plans to use his commutation powers and said little about what might guide his thinking regarding the inmates, all of whom have been convicted of murder.
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Source: The Washington Post, April 8, 2013
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