Md. Study Finds Death Penalty Inequality

 By STEPHEN MANNING

 COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A long-awaited study on capital punishment in Maryland found that blacks charged with killing whites are much more likely to face potential death sentences.

Death penalty opponents seized on the findings released Tuesday, saying lawmakers should extend the state's moratorium on executions while they debate the law and review the report. Some black lawmakers planned to introduce bills Wednesday that would extend the moratorium.

 "This gives us new proof that racial bias is a problem," said Jane Henderson, co-director of the Quixote Center, a Hyattsville-based Catholic organization that tracks death penalty cases.

 The report by University of Maryland criminologist Ray Paternoster was commissioned by Gov. Parris Glendening in 2000 to determine if death sentences were given out unfairly based on race and geography.

 Glendening imposed the moratorium on executions last May while the study was being completed, but Republican Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich has promised to lift the ban when he takes office next week. He said he will review death sentences on a case-by-case basis.

Ehrlich would not comment on the study, saying he had not had a chance to review it. Only one other state that has capital punishment, Illinois, has imposed a similar moratorium.

 Lifting the execution ban could clear the way for up to seven executions in the coming year as more than half of Maryland's 12 death row inmates have nearly exhausted their appeals. Maryland has executed only three men since the death penalty statute was reinstated in 1978.

 Paternoster studied 1,311 homicides between 1978 and 1999 that were eligible for the death penalty, reviewing 250 factors such as racial characteristics of the victim and how the crimes were committed.

 His research team looked at four stages of death penalty cases, including the initial decision by prosecutors to seek a death sentence and the eventual sentence given by a jury or judge.

 Prosecutors, not juries or judges, played the most important role in determining death sentences, the report found. Most of the racial and county disparities came when prosecutors decided to seek a death penalty early in a case, not during the sentencing phase of a trial.

 Paternoster found that the race of the defendant was not significant in death penalty-eligible cases, but wrote that the race of the victim proved to be a major factor in determining whether prosecutors sought the death penalty.

 Furthermore, the race of the victim and offender taken together showed significant differences. Prosecutors filed death notices, indicating their intent to seek the death penalty, in almost half of the homicides where a black defendant killed a white victim, but only in about a quarter of all other homicides.

 The study also concluded and that geography plays a major role in whether a defendant faces a potential death penalty.

 Of Maryland's 12 men on death row, eight are black and four are white. In all 12 cases, the victims were white. The state has executed three people, two of them black, since 1978, all for killing white victims.

World Politics

Maryland finds racial disparities in death penalty; blacks accused of killing whites at high risk

By STEPHEN MANNING

 COLLEGE PARK, Maryland - Prosecutors in Maryland are much more likely to seek the death penalty in cases where blacks are accused of killing whites, according to a University of Maryland study released Tuesday.

 The report also concluded geography plays a major role in whether a defendant faces a potential death sentence, as the decisions by state's attorneys to pursue capital punishment varies widely from county to county in Maryland.

 Outgoing Gov. Parris Glendening commissioned the report in 2000 in response to concerns that Maryland's death penalty is unfairly meted out according to race and jurisdiction.

 Glendening, a Democrat, imposed a moratorium on executions last May while the study was being completed, but Republican Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich has promised to lift the ban when he takes office Jan. 15.

 Only one other state that has capital punishment has imposed a similar moratorium � Illinois.

 Criminologist Ray Paternoster found that the race of the defendant was not significant in death penalty-eligible cases. However, he wrote, the race of the victim proved a major factor in determining whether prosecutors sought the death penalty.

 Prosecutors filed death notices, indicating their intent to seek the death penalty, in almost half of the homicides where a black defendant killed a white victim, but only in about a quarter of all other homicides, the report found.

 "Black offenders who kill white victims are at greater risk of death sentences than others, primarily because they are substantially more likely to be charged by the state's attorney with a capital offense," the report said.

 Paternoster studied 6,000 murder cases between 1978, when the state reinstated a death penalty statute, and 1999.

 Maryland has 12 men on death row; eight are black and four are white. In all 12 cases, the victims were white. The state has executed three people, two of them black, since 1976.

 Criminologist Ray Paternoster found that the race of the defendant was not significant in death penalty-eligible cases, but wrote that the race of the victim proved a major factor in determining whether prosecutors sought the death penalty.

 Further, the race of the victim and offender taken together showed significant differences. Prosecutors filed death notices, indicating their intent to seek the death penalty, in almost half of the homicides where a black defendant killed a white victim, but only in about a quarter of all other homicides.

  "Black offenders who kill white victims are at greater risk of death sentences than others, primarily because they are substantially more likely to be charged by the state's attorney with a capital offense," the report said.

 Paternoster studied 6,000 murder cases between 1978, when the state reinstated a death penalty statute, and 1999. Paternoster sifted through police reports, case files, autopsy reports and other records. Researchers evaluated 250 factors, such as the racial characteristics of the victim and how the crimes were committed.

 Decisions by prosecutors in the early stages of cases varied dramatically between jurisdictions. In Baltimore County, for example, State's Attorney Sandra O'Connor pursues the death penalty in all eligible cases to avoid any allegations of bias � even though the county had considerably fewer death-eligible cases than jurisdictions such as the city of Baltimore.

 "The between-county differences that occur at the beginning of the process have effects that propagate the end of the process," the report concluded.

 Maryland's death penalty could be a major issue in the General Assembly session that starts Wednesday.

 Prosecutors want to strengthen the statute, saying the law is relatively weak compared to other states and was a reason Maryland lost the right to first prosecute Washington-area sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo.

 Several black lawmakers have proposed legislation to extend the moratorium while the General Assembly reviews the study.

 Ehrlich would not comment Tuesday morning on the study, saying he had not had a chance to review it. But he repeated his pledge to end the moratorium when he takes office, saying he will review death sentences on a case-by-case basis.

 Death penalty opponents said the study should convince legislators to extend the moratorium while they debate the state's law.

 "This gives us new proof that racial bias is a problem," said Jane Henderson, co-director of the Quixote Center, a Hyattsville-based Catholic organization that tracks death penalty cases. 

Prosecutorial Limits Urged in Capital Cases

Md. Lawmakers Debate Racial Study

 By Jo Becker

Maryland lawmakers should limit the discretion of local prosecutors in death penalty cases and mandate further court review to address racial and geographic disparities in the capital punishment system, the author of a sweeping study recommended yesterday.

 Raymond Paternoster, a University of Maryland criminologist, briefed two legislative committees on his report released Tuesday and found lawmakers sharply divided over how to interpret the results.

 The study is an analysis of nearly 6,000 homicide cases in the state over two decades. It found that the race of the victim plays a major role in whether the death penalty is sought, with prosecutors far more likely to bring capital charges against black suspects accused of kiling white victims. Because practices by state's attorneys vary widely, a death sentence is 26 times as likely in Baltimore County as in Baltimore, the study said.

 Death penalty proponents questioned Paternoster's methodology and said the problem is simply that prosecutors in predominantly black jurisdictions aren't tough enough in seeking the death sentence on behalf of black victims.

 "I would think that civil rights leaders across the state would be up in arms," said state Sen. Nancy Jacobs (R-Harford). "It's unfair."

 Death penalty opponents such as Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery) praised the report and its suggested legislation, such as requiring courts to review each case to see if capital punishment is being meted out proportionally.

 "The dispute is not so much the facts but the interpretation of the facts," Frosh said.

 Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) has vowed to lift the state's moratorium on executions once he is sworn in Wednesday. The moratorium was imposed by outgoing Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) because of concerns about racial bias.

 Some lawmakers are pushing to keep the moratorium in place with legislation, but an effort to get such a measure passed and on Glendening's desk before he leaves office next week appears doomed, according to key committee chairmen.

"It's not going to happen," said Del. Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince George's), who heads the House Judiciary Committee.

The death penalty is likely to be vigorously debated in the current 90-day session, and Vallario was less certain about which direction lawmakers may take. While some want to abolish capital punishment, others are pushing to apply it more broadly.