The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment vot­ed on November 12 to rec­om­mend the aboli­ti­ion of the death penal­ty in the state. In a 13 – 7 vote, the Commission cit­ed the pos­si­bil­i­ty that an inno­cent per­son could be mis­tak­en­ly exe­cut­ed, as well as geo­graph­i­cal and racial dis­par­i­ties in how it is used. Benjamin Civiletti, the chair of the com­mis­sion and a for­mer U.S. attor­ney gen­er­al, said, ​“It’s hap­haz­ard in how it’s applied, and that’s terribly unfair.”

The Chairman also shared that he does not have a moral oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty but is against it because of cost, the poten­tial for an inno­cent per­son to be exe­cut­ed, and juris­dic­tion­al dis­par­i­ties. Panel mem­bers con­clud­ed that there was a ​“real pos­si­bil­i­ty” an inno­cent per­son could some­day be exe­cut­ed in Maryland. A com­mis­sion mem­ber who was on death row for a mur­der he did not com­mit, Kirk Bloodsworth, said, ​“In 1985, I went to death row for two years.” He con­tin­ued, ​“Now if that’s not real, I don’t know what is.” He was lat­er cleared by DNA evi­dence.

The pan­el also found no per­sua­sive evi­dence to sup­port deter­rence of homi­cides in Maryland through the use of the death penal­ty. A report will be pre­pared for the General Assembly by December 15 explain­ing the Commission’s rec­om­men­da­tion and includ­ing the minor­i­ty point of view.

(B. White, Associated Press, ​“Commission Votes to Abolish Death Penalty in Md.,” November 13, 2008). See Recent Legislative Activity, Costs, and Innocence.

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