Killing a de facto ban

More common sense from our side of the aisle. Since I got this e-mail along with a bunch of other bloggers who are interested in state issues, I'll excerpt to some extent - besides I hope you're reading this to find out what I think!

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld lethal injection as a constitutional means of execution, House Republicans sent an open letter Governor Martin O’Malley calling on him to issue new death penalty regulations.

“With today’s Supreme Court ruling, the Governor has lost an excuse to withhold issuing new regulations”, said Delegate Anthony O’Donnell, House Minority Leader.  “He should follow the lead of his colleague in Virginia and end his de facto ban on this constitutionally passed law.”

On April 1, Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine issued a moratorium on lethal injections pending the Supreme Court’s ruling on Baze v. Rees.  The moratorium was lifted today after the ruling was announced.

"The Governor has no authority to suspend a constitutionally passed law", said Minority Whip Christopher Shank. "If the Governor continues in his refusal to issue these regulations he is putting his personal feelings before the Constitution of this state as well as the citizens he swore to serve."

In 2006, the Maryland Court of Appeals in Evans v. State found that the Division of Corrections protocol that directs the manner of administering the lethal injection was ineffective until either (1) it is adopted as a regulation in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act or (2) the legislature exempts it from the requirements of that Act. To date, Governor O’Malley has not put forth new regulations.

And of course, the letter to O'Malley - again. I'm just taking out the phrases that pay:

The Maryland General Assembly passed a statute regarding the use of capital punishment in Maryland, which was enacted into law in accordance with the Maryland Constitution. In refusing to issue regulations regarding the use of the death penalty in Maryland, we contend that you have engaged in a de facto suspension of the law, and a deliberate omission of your duty to your oath of office and the people of Maryland. Only Maryland’s legislature can suspend such a law in accordance with our Constitution.

We have brought this matter to your attention in a letter hand-delivered to your office October 1, 2007. After receiving no response to the letter outlining these concerns, we issued a public call for action on March 13 of this year, which again brought no response from your office. We have also sent multiple letters over the past six months to the presiding officers of the General Assembly pointing out this problem.

(snip)

It is our assertion that your continued refusal to issue regulations regarding the implementation of the death penalty in accordance with Maryland law is evidence of a deliberate violation of your oath-bound obligations and duties as Governor. Our government is founded on the principle of a legislature that creates law, a judiciary that interprets law, and an executive that enforces law. Your reluctance to enforce the law of Maryland in accordance with the will of the legislature and the interpretation of the judiciary is directly contrary to that principle.

We hereby respectfully call upon you to immediately take steps to satisfy your obligation to duty and oath and issue the required regulations with regard to faithfully executing Maryland’s death penalty statute.

I'm glad they're respectful because I wouldn't be. We have laws that should be enforced, as the letter says. It's bad enough O'Malley proposes laws that have no business being on the books (like Global Warming Solutions) but doesn't enforce ones already there.

I realize not everyone is in favor of the death penalty, particularly for religious reasons. They also may say I'm a hypocrite because I fall on the side of being pro-life.

But my argument is that someone who has committed a capital offense with malice and forethought makes the conscious decision to give up his or her right to life when they decide to commit murder. Then they're convicted by a jury of their peers (in most cases) and after that have further automatic appeals where their case is reviewed at various appellate courts. And with the advent of DNA evidence there's an extreme likelihood that the guilty will be punished, not the innocent.

Thus, it's unfortunate that in Maryland we have a governor who has taken it upon himself to not do his duty, awful as it is in that case. Because he can't convince a majority of the General Assembly to do his bidding and execute the death penalty law, Martin O'Malley needs to follow the lead of his Democrat counterpart in Virginia and restore the teeth to the capital punishment laws. As long as he or she is alive, a convict can wreak havoc by escaping prison - not long ago this happened in Maryland until the man committed what's known as "suicide by cop" - but once the needle is inserted there's very little chance the condemned will do more harm.