Issue Position: The Death Penalty

Issue Position

I support the death penalty and would have voted against repeal. I have no moral objections to capital punishment and am comfortable that, with all of the protections provided defendants in capital cases by existing State law, including the mandated use of DNA testing and video confessions, with the State providing defendants in capital cases with excellent defense counsel, and with all of the appeals accorded those convicted of capital offenses, it is hardly conceivable that an innocent person could be executed in Maryland.

Suppose the Ohio kidnappings had occurred in Maryland, and threee Maryland teenagers had been held in chains for ten years and been subjected to depraved acts, including repeated rapes and then beatings designed to cause babies once conceived to be miscarried? I would not want a single dime of my tax money to be used to pay for the housing, feeding, clothing and medical care of the perpetrator(s). I wouldn't lose a moment's sleep over the fact that the monster who held those girls in captivity for ten years would lose his life on account of his appalling acts.

On the other hand, it costs Maryland taxpayers a huge amount of money to convict a criminal of a capital crime and then to pay for all the costs associated with the multiple appeals accorded the prisoner; in fact, it is far more expensive than convicting a defendant and sentencing the defendant to life without parole. For the last seven years, we have had a Governor who is opposed to capital punishment. Only five criminals have been executed since 1976, so capital punishment can't be said to have any deterrent value at this point.

If a referendum on capital punishment is placed on the ballot in 2014, I will support it, but if the referendum should pass and yet our Governors continue to be unwilling to allow any executions to proceed, at some point, we may simply have to conclude that the cost to the taxpayers of the capital punishment regime is unacceptable, given the fact that no executions ever occur in Maryland.

The bottom line: I would have voted against repeal of the death penalty and will support a referendum on the issue. In the long run, however, if we keep electing Governors who are opposed to the death penalty, it makes little sense to spend huge amounts of money on capital punishment cases.

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