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State & Federal

Maryland

News & Developments


News

Jun 28, 2023

First Death Row Exoneration Involving DNA Evidence Happened 30 Years Ago

June 28, 2023 marks the 30th anniver­sary of the exon­er­a­tion of Kirk Bloodsworth (pic­tured), the first per­son exon­er­at­ed from death row with DNA evi­dence. In the three decades since he was exon­er­at­ed from Maryland’s death row, Mr. Bloodsworth has been a vocal advo­cate for crim­i­nal jus­tice reform. He played an essen­tial role in end­ing the death penal­ty in Maryland in 2013 and served as direc­tor of Witness to Innocence, an orga­ni­za­tion of death row exonerees.

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Feb 22, 2023

Former Maryland Death Row Prisoner Exonerated After 40 Years

John Huffington (pic­tured) has been exon­er­at­ed of all the charges that sent him to death row over 40 years after his ini­tial wrong­ful con­vic­tion. On January 13, 2023, out­go­ing Maryland Governor Larry Hogan grant­ed a full par­don to Huffington, stat­ing that evi­dence con­clu­sive­ly showed that his ​“con­vic­tions were in error.”

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Oct 06, 2021

Death-Row Exoneree Kirk Bloodsworth Receives Supplemental Compensation Under New Maryland Wrongful Imprisonment Statute

Kirk Bloodsworth, the first for­mer death-row pris­on­er to have been exon­er­at­ed by DNA test­ing, has become the first per­son to receive sup­ple­men­tal com­pen­sa­tion under a new Maryland wrong­ful impris­on­ment statute.

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Jan 12, 2018

Experience Shows No ​“Parade of Horribles” Following Abolition of the Death Penalty

States that have recent­ly abol­ished the death penal­ty have not expe­ri­enced the ​“parade of hor­ri­bles” — includ­ing increased mur­der rates — pre­dict­ed by death-penal­ty pro­po­nents, accord­ing to death-penal­ty experts who par­tic­i­pat­ed in a pan­el dis­cus­sion at the 2017 American Bar Association nation­al meet­ing in New York City. Instead, the pan­elists said, abo­li­tion appears to have cre­at­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties to move for­ward with oth­er broad­er crim­i­nal jus­tice reforms.

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Aug 30, 2017

50 Years After Historic Confirmation to Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall’s Legacy Continues To Shape Future

Fifty years ago today, Thurgood Marshall (pic­tured) was con­firmed as the nation’s first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

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Aug 13, 2015

“Bloodsworth: An Innocent Man” Premieres

A new film, ​“Bloodsworth: An Innocent Man,” pre­mieres on August 13. The movie, described as a ​“doc­u­men­tary mem­oir,” tells the sto­ry of Kirk Bloodsworth, an inno­cent man sen­tenced to death in Maryland who became the first death row pris­on­er in the United States to be exon­er­at­ed by DNA evi­dence. Bloodsworth was con­vict­ed and sent to death row in 1985 for the sex­u­al assault and mur­der of a 9‑year-old girl. He won a new tri­al as a result of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, but was con­vict­ed again and this time sen­tenced to life.…

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Jan 02, 2015

Maryland Governor Will Commute Sentences of Remaining Death Row Inmates

On December 31, 2014, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley announced he will com­mute the sen­tences of the four men remain­ing on the state’s death row to life with­out parole. O’Malley signed Maryland’s death penal­ty repeal bill into law in 2013, but the repeal was not retroac­tive. In a state­ment, O’Malley said, ​“Recent appeals and the lat­est opin­ion on this mat­ter by Maryland’s Attorney General have called into ques­tion the legal­i­ty of car­ry­ing out ear­li­er death sen­tences — sen­tences imposed pri­or to abo­li­tion. In fact, the Attorney General has opined that the…

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Nov 19, 2014

EDITORIALS: Maryland Governor Should Commute Remaining Death Sentences

In a recent edi­to­r­i­al, the Washington Post urged Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley to com­mute the sen­tences of the four men remain­ing on the state’s death row, say­ing, ​“To car­ry out exe­cu­tions post-repeal would be both cru­el, because the leg­is­la­tion under­pin­ning the sen­tence has been scrapped, and unusu­al, because doing so would be his­tor­i­cal­ly unprece­dent­ed.” Maryland is one of three states that have repealed the death penal­ty prospec­tive­ly but still have inmates on death row. The oth­ers are Connecticut and New Mexico. O’Malley, who is leav­ing office in January, was a…

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Nov 07, 2014

Maryland Attorney General Asks Court to Vacate Death Sentences

On November 6, Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler (pic­tured) filed a brief with an appel­late court, for­mal­ly request­ing that the death sen­tence of Jody Lee Miles be vacat­ed. Gansler argued that Miles’s death sen­tence is no longer valid. Miles was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1998. In 2006, Maryland’s Court of Appeals sus­pend­ed exe­cu­tions because the state’s lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures had not been law­ful­ly imple­ment­ed. In 2013, the state repealed the death penal­ty for future offens­es. Upon repeal, Miles filed a motion to have his sen­tence changed to life…

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Dec 18, 2013

DPIC Releases 2013 Report, Showing Marked Decline in Death Penalty Use

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Jun 03, 2013

RECENT LEGISLATION: Maryland Death Penalty Will Not Face Referendum

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…

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History of the Death Penalty

The first execution in Maryland was that of four servants who were hung in 1773 for killing their master. The death penalty was re-evaluated in the early 1800’s, when the state established degrees of murder, allowing the death penalty only for individuals convicted of first degree murder. The death penalty was carried out by public hanging until 1913, when hangings were moved to a private space. About 50 years later, the gas chamber was briefly used as the primary method of execution, but only 4 individuals were executed that way. In 1994, lethal injection became the primary method of execution, starting with John Frederick Thanos, the first person to be executed in Maryland since 1961.

Notable Exonerations

Kirk Bloodsworth was the first death row prisoner to be exonerated based on DNA evidence. He was convicted in 1984 on charges that he had raped and murdered a 9-year old girl. He spent 2 years on death row before being resentenced to life in prison. Throughout his almost nine years in prison, he insisted that he was “an innocent man” and signed all of his letters with that acronym, “A.I.M.” In 1993, Bloodsworth was exonerated when DNA testing on the semen found on the victim’s clothing excluded him as the killer. When he was released, the state compensated Bloodsworth $300,000 for the time he spent in prison. The compensation mostly went to cover legal expenses.

Notable Commutations/Clemencies

Eugene Colvin-el was sentenced to death for the brutal murder of 82-year old Lena Buckman. After exhausting his appeals process, there was only a month left until his execution was to be carried out. Then-Governor Parris Glendening commuted Colvin’s sentence to life in prison without parole despite the fact that he was “almost certain” that Colvin committed the crime. Glendening believed that being “almost certain” was not sufficient to justify a death sentence.

On January 20, 2015, Governor Martin O’Malley commuted the sentences of all four men remaining on Maryland’s death row to life in prison. The state’s abolition bill had not been retroactive, leaving 5 men under a sentence of death. One of the men died of natural causes before the remaining death sentences were commuted.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

In 1987, Maryland passed a law that prohibited juvelines from being sentenced to death and provided the option of life without parole for cases involving capital crimes.

In 1989, the state passed a provision banning the execution of intellectually disabled individuals.

In 2002, Governor Parris Glendening declared a moratorium on executions. The moratorium was lifted by his successor, Governor Robert Ehrlich.

In 2009, after nearly passing abolition legislation, Maryland instituted the tightest death penalty restrictions in the country. The law limited the death penalty to capital murder cases with biological or DNA evidence of guilt, a videotaped confession, or a videotape linking the defendant to a homicide.

Maryland’s legislature passed a death penalty repeal bill in March 2013. The bill was signed by Governor Martin O’Malley on May 2, 2013.

Other Interesting Facts

Since 1923, all of the prisoners executed in Maryland have been men.

On March 6, 2013, Maryland’s Senate vot­ed 27 – 20 to repeal the death penal­ty. Photo by Richard Dieter.

Resources

  • Department of Corrections
  • Maryland Citizens Against State Executions
  • Prosecutors
  • Public defender’s office
  • Victims’ services
  • 2008 Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment

Maryland Execution Totals Since 1976

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: No
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 5 state executions, 1 federal execution
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 309
  • Current Death Row Population: 0
  • Women on Death Row: 0
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 2
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 7
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): 1978
  • Date of Abolition: 2013
  • Location of Death Row: North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland
  • Location of Executions: Baltimore
  • Capital: Annapolis
  • Region: South
  • Population: 6,177,224*
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 8.97
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Method of Execution: Lethal Injection / Choice of Gas Chamber if sentenced before 3/25/94
  • Clemency Process: Governor has sole authority to grant clemency
  • Governor: Larry Hogan

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