Five months after enacting tight restrictions on Maryland's seldom-used capital punishment statute, state lawmakers are considering another revision. Senators dismissed a total repeal of the death penalty last year in favor of a hastily crafted compromise plan. The new law means that prosecutors can only seek the death penalty in murder cases where there is DNA evidence, a video-recording of the crime or a video-taped confession from the killer.
It appears that just one prosecutor has filed capital charges since the statute took effect Oct. 1: Wicomico County State's Attorney Davis R. Ruark is seeking it in the case of James Leggs Jr. A registered sex offender, Leggs is accused of kidnapping and killing 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell days before Christmas.
Now, Sen. Norman Stone, a Baltimore County Democrat, wants to add fingerprints and still photographs to the list of evidence that can be used to initiate a capital case.
Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger testified in favor of the bill today before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, saying "it makes absolutely no sense" to dismiss fingerprints and photographs but allow DNA and video recordings.
On the other side of the debate, Katy C. O'Donnell, chief of the state public defenders' aggravated homicide division, which handles capital cases, said lawmakers sent a clear message last year. "We don't want just 'reliable' evidence," she said, "We want evidence with heightened reliability. She and other opponents raised questions about fingerprints, saying that more judges -- even in Baltimore County, where the death penalty has traditionally been used the most -- were dubious of the certainty that fingerprint identification provides.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Democrat, backs Stone's plan, but it is likely to be a tough sell in the House of Delegates. The House committee that would consider the measure favors repealing the death penalty altogether.
Five men are on Maryland's death row. The last execution was performed in December 2005. Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, opposes the death penalty. His administration and a committee of many anti-death penalty lawmakers have been reviewing and revising execution protocols for the past few years, effectively instituting a moratorium.