Baltimore Sun 1/9/02

Support for Moratorium in Maryland

   As a corrections officer for 27 years, Willie "Sonny" Leggett says he supports a moratorium on executions in Maryland because he has seen prisoners change their lives for the better. "I really don't believe that the death penalty serves a purpose.  Why take a life?  I just don't think it's right.  Plus, you might get innocent people killed," he said. 

    The fear of wrongful executions is not the only reasons Marylanders are deadlocked on whether the state should have a moratorium.  Del. Salima S. Mariott, (D-Baltimore), who sponsored last year's moratorium bill, believes, "This is an issue of racial disparity."  While Marylanders are split on the moratorium, the support for a halt on executions is 65% among African Americans.