End Md.'s death penalty

Today, Gov. Martin O'Malley joins the NAACP and other civil rights groups in an all-out push to abolish capital punishment in Maryland. Advocates say they believe they have the votes in both the Senate and House of Delegates, and a long-standing bottleneck in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee appears no longer to be an obstacle to a floor vote on the issue. Given the governor's commitment to make this legislation part of his agenda, and the turnover in the Senate since the last major push for a repeal in 2009, the odds for abolishing capital punishment in Maryland appear better than ever.

January 15, 2013