Baltimore Sun

February 07 

Md. court delays Oken's execution

By Dennis O'Brien

Steven Oken, scheduled to die next month for the murder in 1987 of a White Marsh newlywed, won a reprieve yesterday when the state's highest court postponed his execution indefinitely in a ruling that could also delay the executions of three other death row inmates.

 The Maryland Court of Appeals granted a stay of execution by a 6-1 vote, issuing a one-page order that gives Oken's lawyers additional time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court . In a stinging dissent, one judge recommended abolishing the death penalty because "it simply is not worth the aggravation."

 The court ruling was welcomed by death penalty opponents, but it disappointed prosecutors and relatives of the three women who were sexually assaulted and shot to death by Oken.

 "I'm very upset. It's just prolonging the agony," said Betty Romano, whose 20-year-old daughter, Dawn Marie Garvin, was killed by Oken.