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Maryland High Court Calls Halt to Executions
Gov. Jeb Bush (R) suspended the death penalty in Florida on Friday after a botched execution took 34 minutes and a second injection to kill convicted murderer Angel Nieves Diaz. In the Northern District of California, Judge Jeremy D. Fogel ruled on the same day that the state must overhaul its lethal injection procedures, calling the current protocol unconstitutional because of the pain it might inflict.
Hut has brought a challenge similar to the one in California in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, arguing that the state's method of execution risks causing excruciating but undetectable pain and would not be permitted under state law even "to euthanize household pets or barnyard animals." Judge Benson E. Legg has not ruled in that case.
  Vernon Lee Evans Jr. is scheduled to die by lethal injection. The Maryland Court of Appeals found merit in Evans' challenge to the way lethal injection procedures were adopted and ordered a review. (Family Photo - File Photo) |
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) reiterated yesterday that he remains personally opposed to the death penalty, but he said he will not push for a review of lethal injection because state courts have upheld the practice.
Evans, of Baltimore, was convicted of the 1983 murders of David S. Piechowicz, 27, and Piechowicz's sister-in-law, Susan Kennedy, 19, at a hotel that Piechowicz managed in Pikesville. He is one of six inmates on death row in Maryland.
Wesley E. Baker died by lethal injection in December 2005 in the first execution in the state since June 2004 and the fifth in Maryland since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Although yesterday's ruling had the effect of halting executions on technical grounds, a majority of the court rejected arguments that have been widely embraced by opponents of execution, including that the death penalty as applied in Maryland is unconstitutional because of racial bias.
To bring the execution process into compliance with the administrative procedure law would require a review by a joint committee of 20 legislators, who could significantly slow or even block implementation, depending upon on how the rules are presented by the administration.
If designated as "emergency" regulations by the administration, the rules would need the approval of the panel -- the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review -- and any one of the 20 members could call for a public hearing, the date of which would be set by the House and Senate chairmen. One of those is Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George's), a death penalty opponent.
"I'm not going to be in a hurry to push the plunger or let anyone else push the plunger," Pinsky said yesterday.
If the regulations are put forward without an "emergency" designation, they would be subject to a public comment period and could take several months to implement, Pinsky said. Ultimately, though, if there is no emergency designation, the administration could ignore the will of the legislative panel.
To exempt the execution protocol from the administrative procedures law -- the second course suggested by the high court -- would require legislation, and it is hard to gauge the likely support for such a measure. In recent years, the General Assembly has considered contradictory bills on the death penalty, and consensus has been in short supply.
Staff writer Tim Craig contributed to this report.
