What Happened: On December 20th, 2006, the Maryland State Court of Appeals declared a moratorium on the death penalty pending a proper hearing and legislative review of the state's execution manual, particularly its lethal injection protocols.
The Judge's Official Reasoning: Under Maryland state law, revisions to the execution manual must be aired out in a public hearing and subjected to legislative review. This never happened.
Also Worth Considering: Within the previous week, both California and Florida declared a temporary moratorium on enforcement of the death penalty after one lethal injection went horribly wrong.
Meet Vernon: The petitioner whose appeal brought about this moratorium, Maryland death row inmate Vernon Evans, is a familiar name to readers of this site. His blog, Meet Vernon, is #2 on my Top 10 Death Penalty Blogs list. He claims that he was falsely convicted.
What Happens Next: Either prosecutors will appeal the case to the Maryland's highest court, or (more likely, given the California and Florida precedents) the legislature will review the lethal injection protocols and try to determine whether or not they are valid.
Racial Disparities: The legislative review may be a good opportunity for other soul-searching. According to a 2002 report, about 60% of Maryland death row inmates committed their crimes in predominantly black Baltimore County, which accounts for only 5% of the state's homicides. 85% of Maryland's death row inmates are black, and all of them have been convicted of killing whites.
Investigation of Racial Disparities: In May 2002, Governor Parris Glendening (D-MD) declared a moratorium on capital punishment in the state of Maryland pending the results of a university study pertaining to possible racial disparities in capital sentencing. The report did indeed find evidence of disparities, as noted above, prompting Attorney General Joseph Curran Jr. to call for the abolition of Maryland's death penalty, stating that the possibility of false conviction posed an "intolerable risk." Newly-elected Governor Robert Ehrlich (R-MD) dismissed the university's study and reinstated the death penalty as soon as he took office in January 2003.
Public Opinion: A 2004 poll found that 53% of Maryland residents support the death penalty. It is worth noting, however, that this poll was taken shortly after the Virginia conviction of infamous Washington beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad.
