By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America – Recently Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley commuted the death sentences of the last four inmates remaining on death row in the state. Such action will effectively end capital punishment in the state of Maryland, after lawmakers voted in 2013 to abolish the death sentence for future offenders. O’Mally, a potential 2016 White House candidate, said that leaving the last four prisoners to await the death penalty “does not serve the public good.”

All four inmates were convicted of murder. One inmate, Heath Burch was convicted of the 1995 murders of Robert and Cleo Davis. The victims’ family has repeatedly asked the governor not to remove Burch from death row. However, O’Mally has commuted the four prisoners’ sentences, including Burch’s, to life without the possibility of parole. All four men are currently housed at the maximum-security North Branch Correctional institution near Cumberland, however the inmates will now be eligible for transfer to a medium-security prison.

There are currently 3,054 inmates on death row in the United States, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which compiles statistics published by the Bureau of Justice. Maryland was one of six states to ban the death penalty between 2007 and 2013. In recent years, Connecticut and New Mexico have also abolished the death penalty, but those laws were not made retroactive. In 2014, the United States executed 35 inmates, the fewest in two decades, and sentenced only 72 to death.

The abolishment of the death penalty was one of O’Mally’s progressive accomplishments during his time in office, others included the legalization of same-sex marriage, and sweeping gun-control measures. O’Mally has lobbied lawmakers since 2007, his first term, to abolish capital punishment. He claims that the executions are not cost-effective, do not have any deterrent effect, and are at odds with “our values as a people.” However, A Washington Post – ABC News poll in June found that 60 percent of Americans favor the availability of the death penalty.

 

For more information, please see:

BALTIMORE SUN – 4 Former MD. Death Row Inmates Could Get Medium Security – 6 Jan. 2015.

REUTERS – Maryland Governor Commutes Sentences For Remaining Death Row Inmates – 31 Dec. 2015.

US NEWS – Maryland Governor Commutes Sentences For Remaining Death Row Inmates – 31 Dec. 2015.

WASHINGTON POST – Gov. O’Mally to Commute Sentences of Maryland’s Remaining Death-Row Inmates – 31. Dec. 2015.