Capital punishment in Maryland

Capital punishment in Maryland

Capital punishment is a legal form of judicial punishment in the U.S. state of Maryland. It has been in use in the state since June 20, 1638, when two men were hanged for piracy in St. Mary's County. A total of 309 people were executed by a variety of methods from 1638 to June 9, 1961, the last execution before "Furman v. Georgia". Since that time, five people have been executed. Executions in Maryland are currently suspended as a result of a court case until the procedures used to perform the execution are approved using the process required by state law.

History

Up until the second half the 20th century, most executions were by hanging. The exceptions were a soldier shot for desertion, two slaves hanged in chains, and one female slave who was burned at the stake. All hangings were performed in public in the county where the offence took place.

In 1809, the Maryland legislature enacted laws that provided for murder in varying degrees. The mandatory punishment for first-degree murder was given as death. New laws came into force in 1908 which allowed the sentencing judge discretion, giving the option of life imprisonment. Then in 1916, the jury was given the option of deciding if they wished to impose the death penalty during their deliberations. They could now return a sentence of guilty "without capital punishment."

This changed under new state laws in 1922, which required all hangings to be executed at the Maryland State Penitentiary. It was designed to get rid of "the curious mobs that frequent hangings taking place in the counties of this State, and who attempt to make public affairs of the same." 75 men were hanged on the Penitentiary gallows. Of these, 12 hangings were double hangings and on two occasions triple hangings took place. The first indoor hanging in the state, would come before this time though, with an execution on January 3, 1913 in the Baltimore City Jail, which only had invited guests present.

There is one known instance of a botched execution by hanging. On January 30, 1930, Jack Johnson stood on the trapdoor after being convicted of a double murder. But as he fell through, the rope snapped and he fell to the ground below. He was left badly injured and carried to the top of the gallows on a stretcher. There, a new rope was placed around his neck and he was hanged, supported by a stretcher.

The Maryland government decided in 1955 to change the method of execution to the use of lethal gas in the gas chamber. A total of four men were executed in this fashion. The first was on June 28, 1957.

Constitutional challenges

After the "Furman v. Georgia" decision of the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that death penalty statutes were unconstitutionally arbitrary in their application, the Maryland legislature removed all arbitrariness by making death the mandatory punishment for first-degree murder once again. Such laws were found by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional in "Woodson v. North Carolina". As such, the Maryland legislature took the route which the Supreme Court had found acceptable in "Gregg v. Georgia" and introduced bifurcated trials, where the jury first decided guilt and then punishment, mandatory appellate review, and the weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances.cite journal|last=Feinberg|first=Matthew E.|authorlink= |title=The Crime, the Case, the Killer Cocktail: Why Maryland's Capital Punishment Procedure Constitutes Cruel and Unusual Punishment|journal=University of Baltimore Law Review|volume=37|issue= |pages=79, 90-97|publisher= |location= |date=Fall 2007|url= |doi= |id= |accessdate= ]

Further laws changes in 1987 and 1989 excluded juveniles and the mentally retarded from execution.

In 1994, the method was changed to lethal injection for persons convicted after March 25, 1994. For person sentenced before March 25, 1994, the condemned is given the choice between the gas chamber and lethal injection. John Thanos was put to death using lethal injection on May 16, 1994. This was the first execution by this method in the state, and was also the first execution in Maryland in over 30 years.

Governor Parris N. Glendening halted executions in Maryland by executive order on May 9, 2002, while a state-ordered University of Maryland, College Park study of capital punishment was conducted. The study eventually concluded that there are racial and geographic disparities in the application of the death penalty in the state, but the subsequent governor, Robert Ehrlich, ended the moratorium and resumed executions in 2004.

Administrative law challenge

In 2006, the Maryland Court of Appeals in "Evans v. Maryland" ruled that state executions would be suspended because the manual that spells out the protocol for lethal injections was not adopted using the process required by the state Administrative Procedures Act (APA)." [http://mdcourts.gov/opinions/coa/2006/122a05.pdf Evans v. Maryland] ", 396 Md. 256, 914 A.2d 25 (2006).] The state APA requires state administrative agencies to adopt regulations, which are defined as statements that have general application and are adopted by an agency to detail or carry out a law that the agency administers, using a process that includes a review by the Attorney General, review by a legislative committee, and publication for public notice and comment. The state's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services had adopted the manual without following any of these activities. The Court of Appeals noted that the procedures for execution in the manual were clearly regulations, and because they had not been properly adopted, they could not be used until they had been either adopted as required by the APA or the state law was changed. The ruling in "Evans", while not significant from an administrative law aspect as it was consistent with state case law, will prevent executions until the agreement is reached regarding both the need for the death penalty and in the method and procedure to be used to carry it out. [cite journal|last=Rochvarg|first=Arnold|title=How Administrative Law Halted the Death Penalty in Maryland|journal=University of Baltimore Law Forum|volume=37|issue= |pages=119, 129-30|publisher= |location= |date=Spring 2007|url= |doi= |id= |accessdate= ]

The Maryland General Assembly in 2008 has established the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment to provide recommendations concerning the application and administration of capital punishment in the state so that they are free from bias and error and achieve fairness and accuracy. [ [http://mlis.state.md.us/2008rs/chapters_noln/Ch_430_sb0614E.pdf Chapter 430, Laws 2008, Death Penalty - Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment.] ] Following a series of public hearings, a report is scheduled to be issued by the commission in December 2008.

Current state law

On first degree murder is a capital offense in the state of Maryland. Criminal Law § 2-201 of the Annotated Code of Maryland defines murder in the first degree as:
* A deliberate, premeditated, and willful killing.
* Committed by lying in wait.
* Committed by poison.
* Committed in the perpetration of or an attempt to perpetrate arson, burglary, carjacking, escape from prison, kidnapping, mayhem, rape, robbery, sexual offense, sodomy, or bomb-making.
* If the offender willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation intended the death of a law enforcement officer.

The state's attorney in a case involving a capital punishment eligible crime must give the defendant notice at least thirty days prior to the trial that the death penalty will be sought and the aggravating circumstances that the state will present to the jury.

Under Criminal Law § 2-303, the sentence of death is imposed::"…by intravenous administration of a lethal quantity of an ultrashort-acting barbiturate or other similar drug in combination with a chemical paralytic agent."

The lethal injection procedure used in Maryland consists of the anesthetic drug sodium pentothal, followed by the paralytic drug pancuronium bromide, which is also known as Pavulon, and lastly a drug which stops the heart, potassium chloride. The execution is completed when, using an electrocardiogram, a physician declares the convict to be dead.

Unlike most states, Maryland does not offer the condemned a special last meal; instead the prisoner receives whatever food the general prison population is served the day of the convict's death.

Post-"Gregg" executions

A total of 5 individuals convicted of murder have been executed by the state of Maryland since 1976. All were executed by lethal injection.

Current Death Row Inmates

5 men are currently sentenced to death in Maryland.

References

ee also

* Capital punishment in the United States

External links

* [http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/publicinfo/capitalpunishment/index.shtml Capital punishment in Maryland] from the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services
* [http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/MARYLAND.htm Executions in Maryland 1638–1961]
* [http://www.goccp.org/capital-punishment/ Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment]


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