Maryland​’s death penal­ty repeal leg­is­la­tion will take effect as sched­uled on October 1, 2013 after its oppo­nents were unsuc­cess­ful in secur­ing the num­ber of sig­na­tures required to put the issue on the November 2014 bal­lot. Efforts to put Maryland’s death penal­ty to a statewide vote were led by Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger and a group called MDPetitions​.com. On May 31, the group announced that it only col­lect­ed about 15,000 sig­na­tures, falling short of the 18,579 sig­na­tures required in order to pro­ceed. If the group had met the ini­tial dead­line, they would have had until June 30th to col­lect more than 37,000 sig­na­tures from reg­is­tered vot­ers in order to place the ref­er­en­dum on the November 2014 bal­lot. ​“To be reaf­firmed by the pub­lic, and know that jus­tice is served, is won­der­ful,” said Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D‑Baltimore), who sup­port­ed the repeal bill, ​“This is the most pro­found thing I will ever do.” On May 2, Maryland became the sixth state in six years to aban­don cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment when Governor Martin O’Malley signed the repeal bill into law.

(J. Wagner, ​“Petition dri­ve to halt Maryland’s death penal­ty repeal falls short,” Washington Post, May 31, 2013, E. Cox, ​“Efforts to restore cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment fall short,” Baltimore Sun, May 31, 2013.). See Recent Legislation.

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