Steele Wants Death Penalty Reexamined

"Three and a half years to suggest nothing but further study?" said Derek Walker, the spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party. "For an issue he claims to care so deeply about, there's been a startling lack of principled action."

The lieutenant governor said politics did not factor into his decision to make the recommendation now. The announcement did come as he has been attempting to court African American voters, a constituency that traditionally has been loyal to Democrats.

Steele, the first African American elected to statewide office in Maryland, yesterday repeated concerns he has raised in the past about racial disparities in how the death penalty is being imposed. Five of the six men on the state's death row are black, and the victims of all but one were white.

"It may not be the intent, but there is a perception in the way the sentences are handed down that a white life is worth more than a black life," Steele said. "We need to assure the people of this state that life is valued regardless of skin color or economic status."

Ehrlich's predecessor, Parris N. Glendening (D), issued a moratorium on the death penalty pending the outcome of a study by University of Maryland criminologist Raymond Paternoster.

Paternoster released his report in January 2003, saying he had found evidence of geographic and racial disparities in the state's use of the death penalty. Capital cases were brought almost twice as often when there was a white victim, the report found, and blacks who killed whites were 2 1/2 times more likely to be sentenced to death than whites who killed whites.

Ehrlich did not reinstate the moratorium.

Cathy Knepper, a death penalty opponent, said she had become deeply frustrated with Steele for not persuading Ehrlich to reconsider. But yesterday she said she was encouraged by Steele's statements.

"He has said over time he would be doing something," Knepper said. "It has taken a really long time for that to happen, but I am delighted to have it happen at any point."