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Maryland Death Penalty Repeal Signed into Law

May 3rd, 2013 by WCBC Radio

 

Governor Martin O'Malley has signed a measure repealing capital punishment in Maryland. O'Malley, a Democrat, signed the measure at a crowded bill-signing ceremony on Thursday. The ceremony was attended by NAACP President Ben Jealous and Kirk Bloodsworth, a one-time Maryland death row inmate who was the first person in the United States freed by DNA evidence. Maryland is now the 18th state to abolish the death penalty. The bill will not apply to the five men the state has on death row, but the governor can commute their sentences to life without parole. O'Malley has said he will consider them on a case-by-case basis. The state's last execution took place in 2005, before O'Malley's tenure. Supporters of the death penalty could still try to petition the bill to the ballot- although the governor believes most Marylander’s favor the repeal….





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