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| Md. Executions May Resume With New Gov. |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/17/2003 |
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This year's change of power in the governor's mansion carries an ominous tone for the 12 inmates on Maryland's death row. Outgoing Gov. Parris Glendening, a Democrat who did not seek re-election this fall, suspended all executions last May over worries the state's death penalty was biased. But the moratorium was expected to be lifted after Republican Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich's inauguration Wednesday. Ehrlich has made it clear he plans to end the moratorium. Once that happens, death warrants could be signed within a few weeks for at least two of the 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 similar to one implemented three years ago in Illinois by Republican Gov. George Ryan. Ryan commuted the sentences of all 167 death row inmates, mostly to life in prison, just before leaving office Monday. Ryan's successor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, has said he will continue the moratorium. In Maryland, however, Ehrlich campaigned against that state's moratorium before he was elected governor last year, and he pledged to lift it immediately upon taking office. Ehrlich has said he will look at each individual case that comes before him for clemency. The new governor's inauguration comes 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. |
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