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| Maryland High Court Halts Execution |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 02/13/2003 |
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Maryland's highest court stayed the execution of Steven Oken on Tuesday, delaying his death until at least May when it hears the case. Oken was scheduled to die the week of March 17 for the 1987 slaying of newlywed Dawn Marie Garvin. But by a 5-2 vote, the Court of Appeals halted the execution order signed Jan. 27 in Baltimore County. Oken has also been convicted of murdering his sister-in-law in Maryland and motel clerk in Kittery, Maine. Oken's attorney, Fred Warren Bennett, filed the stay motion Monday with the high court, arguing Maryland's law does not force juries to give enough weight to factors that might discourage the death sentence. The high court's decision to stay the execution likely signals the court's willingness to judge Maryland's law against two Supreme Court decisions dealing with those factors. The decision also could affect the sentences of Maryland's 11 other death-row inmates if the state law is deemed unconstitutional. ''This is good news indeed,'' Bennett said Tuesday. ''It shows the Court of Appeals continues to be interested in this case.'' Bennett also appealed on the grounds that a recently released study of Maryland's death penalty proved the statute was unfair. The court did not act on that appeal in its stay, Bennett said. Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Dana Levitz rejected a similar appeal based on the study on Tuesday, the attorney said. In the state's response to Oken's stay motion, filed with the Court of Appeals earlier Tuesday, the attorney general's office argued that Bennett's argument had been rejected before by the court. Bennett contends that two recent Supreme Court cases, Apprendi v. New Jersey and Ring v. Arizona, set a high bar for juries considering evidence in the death-penalty phase of a trial. Maryland's law requires juries to use a ''preponderance of evidence'' standard when weighing the aggravating factors of a case against factors that might benefit the defendant. But Bennett argued the Supreme Court cases show a jury must be use the much tougher standard of ''beyond a reasonable doubt'' and give much more scrutiny to factors that might discourage a death sentence. In the state's response to Bennett's motion for a stay, Solicitor General Gary Bair argued that several courts, including the Supreme Court, have rejected similar arguments by Oken before. ''Oken's current challenge to his sentence fails because his claim that Maryland's death penalty statute is unconstitutional, due to the burden of proof that applies during the weighing process, has been finally litigated,'' the response reads. Bair did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday evening. |
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