Death penalty moratorium to end when new Maryland governor takes office

Jan 14, 20 3

By STEPHEN MANNING,

ROCKVILLE, Maryland - Maryland's death penalty moratorium will almost certainly be lifted after Republican Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich takes office Wednesday, opening the way for the execution of as many as 12 inmates.

All executions in Maryland were suspended last May by Democratic Gov. Parris Glendening, who did not seek re-election this fall.

 The incoming and outgoing administrations disagree on exactly when and how the moratorium officially ends, but Ehrlich has made it clear he will end it. And death warrants could be signed within a few weeks for at least two inmates.

 "Right now we're up approaching the wall. Pretty soon we'll be up against it," said Fred Warren Bennett, lawyer for inmate Steven Oken, who could face a death warrant as soon as the moratorium ends.

 The moratorium is one only two in the nation. Illinois Republican Gov. George Ryan suspended all executions three years ago, and his successor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, who took office Monday, has said he will continue the moratorium.

 Ehrlich's inauguration comes just days after the release of a state-commissioned study that shows racial and geographic disparities in how Maryland's death penalty is used by prosecutors.

 Some state lawmakers want to extend the moratorium while they review the report, but Ehrlich has indicated he does not believe the study's findings warrant any immediate changes in Maryland's law.

 A last-ditch attempt by black lawmakers to extend the halt on executions appears to have failed, and Glendening has promised not to intervene in his final day as governor.

 State Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a Baltimore Democrat, hoped to rush a bill extending the moratorium through the General Assembly and have it signed by Glendening before Wednesday. As of Tuesday, the bill had not yet been reviewed by legislative committees.

 Ehrlich campaigned against the moratorium last year, pledging to lift it immediately upon taking office.

 Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell said the moratorium will end the moment Ehrlich is sworn in, with no official action needed. "It's simply a change in the position of the occupant of the governor's office," Fawell said.

 However, Glendening's attorneys said the moratorium was part of a May 9 executive order the governor signed staying the execution of a particular inmate. Ehrlich must issue an executive order reversing that decision, according to Glendening spokesman Chuck Porcari.

 Glendening, who imposed the moratorium in May over worries the state's death penalty was biased, said he would not follow the lead of Illinois' governor, who commuted the sentences of all 167 of the state's death row inmates two days before he left office.

 "In light of the incoming governor taking the oath of office, the governor felt it would be inappropriate to take such action," Porcari said.

 Ehrlich has said he will look at each individual case that comes before him for clemency.

 Maryland has 12 men on death row � four whites and eight blacks. Two could have death warrants signed when the moratorium is lifted, and five others will probably run out of appeals later this year, according to the Maryland attorney general's office. The state's last execution was in 1998. Maryland has put to death only three inmates since 1978.