After con­sult­ing with the fam­i­ly of the mur­der vic­tim, Maryland pros­e­cu­tors decid­ed not to seek the death penal­ty against Kenneth Collins dur­ing a recent resen­tenc­ing hear­ing. Collins’ death sen­tence was over­turned because of an inad­e­quate defense at his orig­inial tri­al. Margaret Breeden, the vic­tim’s wid­ow, not­ed that seek­ing the death penal­ty for Collins would result in years of ago­niz­ing appeals and that her fam­i­ly is ​“tired of reliv­ing the mem­o­ries of his death every time a new hear­ing is sched­uled.” The pros­e­cu­tor, Stephen Bailey, not­ed that the Breeden fam­i­ly is among a grow­ing num­ber of vic­tims’ fam­i­lies who have dropped their pur­suit of a death sen­tence. ​“Fewer peo­ple, though very sup­port­ive of the death penal­ty, are will­ing to put them­selves through a process that many of them see as nev­er end­ing and not nec­es­sar­i­ly guar­an­tee­ing the results that the sys­tem promis­es,” Bailey stat­ed. Collins will serve a life sen­tence instead. (Baltimore Sun, February 6, 2004) See Victims and the Death Penalty and Life Without Parole.

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