USA - Le Maryland commue la peine de ses quatre derniers condamnés à mort

Agence France-Presse
Washington - L'État du Maryland, dans l'est des États-Unis, qui a aboli la peine capitale il y a un an et demi, a décidé d'épargner ses quatre derniers condamnés à mort et de commuer leur peine en prison à perpétuité, a annoncé mercredi son gouverneur.

En mai 2013, le Maryland était devenu le 18e et dernier État américain à abolir la peine de mort (sur 50) mais il restait quatre hommes dans le couloir de la mort, dont le sort n'avait pas été tranché.

«J'ai l'intention de commuer la peine de mort des quatre (prisonniers) du Maryland en réclusion à perpétuité sans possibilité de libération», a annoncé le gouverneur démocrate Martin O'Malley, dans un communiqué.

Après avoir rencontré les familles des victimes des quatre condamnés, le responsable de l'État a dit son espoir que sa décision leur «permette de tourner la page».

Son ministre de la Justice avait conclu que l'exécution de ces quatre hommes serait illégale, après l'abolition de la peine capitale dans l'État, même si leurs condamnations étaient antérieures.

Le 2 mai 2013, le gouverneur Martin O'Malley avait promulgué la loi qui abolit la peine de mort, qu'il juge «intrinsèquement injuste».

Au total, 29 États américains et la capitale fédérale ont aboli le châtiment suprême ou ne l'utilisent plus, tandis que le nombre d'exécutions a poursuivi son déclin en 2014.

Les États-Unis ont procédé à 35 exécutions en 2014, le chiffre le plus bas depuis 20 ans, selon le bilan annuel du Centre d'information sur la peine capitale (DPIC).

Trois États à eux seuls ont procédé à 80% des exécutions: le Missouri (centre), le Texas (sud) et la Floride (sud-est).

Mais l'année a été marquée par des exécutions particulièrement pénibles avec des injections létales fonctionnant mal dans l'Ohio (nord), l'Oklahoma (sud) ou l'Arizona (sud-ouest).

Ces exécutions, apparemment accompagnées de souffrances, ont provoqué un tollé et contribué, selon le DPIC, à faire reculer la peine de mort: il n'y a eu que 72 condamnations à mort prononcées dans l'année, un plus bas en 40 ans.

Death penalty repeal approved by Maryland Senate

The Washington Post

The Maryland Senate voted to repeal the death penalty Wednesday after four days of emotional debate, moving the state closer to becoming the sixth in as many years to abolish executions.
The 27 to 20 vote was widely seen as a key step in ending capital punishment in Maryland, which has not executed a death-row prisoner since 2005. The legislation now goes before the House of Delegates, where a vote could come as early as next week.
25 Democrats and two Republicans supported the measure, while 10 members of both parties opposed it.
County official offers window into the thinking behind the decision to keep Prince George’s government open.
The House is expected to approve the measure, handing Gov. Martin O’Malley a long-sought legislative victory at a time when he is weighing a run for national office in 2016.

“It’s time to end this ineffective and expensive practice and put our efforts behind crime fighting strategies that work,” O’Malley (D) said in a statement.
Shari Silberstein, executive ­director of Equal Justice USA, a group that is working to end the death penalty, said that Maryland’s action is part of a national trend and that she envisions another half-dozen states adopting the policy in the next several years.
“Just a few years ago, you wouldn’t have had a governor with national ambitions making this a banner issue,” Silberstein said. “It’s no longer the ‘third rail’ of politics. Voters don’t punish people at the polls for being anti-death penalty.”
Wednesday’s debate underscored the internal struggles for many senators.
Sen. Victor R. Ramirez (D-Prince George’s), a supporter of the bill, cited statistics showing that Maryland has been more likely to impose the death penalty in cases with black assailants and white victims.
“We have a broken system here in Maryland,” he said. “If we can’t fix it, we need to get rid of it.”
Repeal opponents countered that the death penalty can be an important law enforcement tool and should be kept on the books for heinous cases, several of which were recounted in graphic detail during the debate.
“That ultimate punishment still needs to be available,” Sen. Christopher B. Shank (R-Washington) argued to colleagues. “We are talking about crimes against humanity.”
While the death penalty remains on the books in 33 states, many are using it more sparingly than in the past. Last year, 77 people were sentenced to death nationally, the second-lowest number since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore), a champion of the repeal legislation in Maryland, said he is confident supporters have the votes to prevail in the House. O’Malley’s bill was introduced in January with 67 House co-sponsors, or four delegates shy of a majority. The bill also has the backing of House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel).
Maryland voters, however, could have the final say on the issue. If the measure passes, opponents have vowed to make use of a provision in the state’s constitution that allows people to petition recently passed laws to the ballot, as happened with same-sex marriage last year. The outcome of a death penalty referendum would be far from certain.

Maryland - Repeal of death penalty moves forward

washingtonexaminer.com

A repeal of Maryland's death penalty is expected to pass the state Senate next week, but voters could have the ultimate say on its fate in the 2014 election.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Prince George's and Calvert counties, has said he expects the issue, which received preliminary approval Friday, to go to voter referendum. And that possibility was improved when senators eliminated a funding provision, since legislation that can be considered a budget item cannot go to referendum under Maryland rules.

Police and prosecutors throughout the state are fighting to keep the death penalty for those who commit heinous crimes. They argue that capital punishment is a valuable tool and that the death penalty is the only thing deterring violent criminals already serving prison terms from killing corrections officers or one another.
On the other side is a coalition of religious groups, human rights advocates and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. They say the death penalty does not deter violent crime and the state should eliminate any possibility of putting to death an innocent person.

The repeal bill -- one of Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's legislative priorities this year -- passed a key test vote Friday when senators rejected an amendment 27-19 that would have kept the death penalty for the most heinous murders.

Despite the major push to end capital punishment, Maryland hasn't executed anybody since 2005, and O'Malley's administration has refused to implement procedures to allow the execution of the state's five current death row inmates to go forward.

A January Gonzales Research poll shows 49 percent of Marylanders support the death penalty, while 44 percent oppose it. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percent.

That doesn't worry proponents of repeal.

"There's no organized opposition," said Jane Henderson, executive director of the coalition Maryland Citizens Against State Executions. "All of the intensity on the issue is on our side."

Religious groups frame the repeal as a sanctity of life issue in line with the tenets of their faith. Groups like Color of Change and the NAACP argue the death penalty is disproportionately used against blacks.

Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassily calls that "bogus," saying 80 percent of the murders committed in Maryland are by black men.

Cassily said if the death penalty is repealed, people already serving life sentences could murder with impunity.

"This is not repealing the death penalty, this is about legalizing certain forms of first-degree murder by removing the penalty," he said.

That sentiment is shared by a number of groups representing law enforcement, such as the Maryland State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police, Maryland Troopers Association and the Maryland Sheriffs' Association.

Those groups argue a criminal is less likely to kill an officer during the commission of a crime out of fear of the death penalty.

"Law enforcement officers are the last line of defense between anarchy, chaos and all that is good in our society," wrote state FOP Legislative Chairman Percel O. Alston Jr. in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

Maryland - Senate panel approves measures on death penalty repeal, tighter gun-control

Washington Post

The same Senate panel, which voted 6 to 5 for the repeal bill, later signed off on sweeping gun-control legislation, another top O’Malley priority, in a voting session that stretched until nearly midnight.
After making several changes, the panel voted 7 to 4 in favor of the bill, which would ban assault weapons, preclude more mental health patients from purchasing firearms, tighten school security and impose some of the strictest gun-licensing requirements in the country.
Both are marquee measures for O’Malley (D) in the 90-day session, which reaches its midpoint Friday. The House of Delegates is poised to weigh both bills in coming weeks.
The approval of the repeal bill followed spirited debate from members of the Judicial Proceedings Committee on both sides of the issue.
“Human beings make mistakes,” said Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery), the panel’s chairman, who argued that Maryland risked executing an innocent inmate by keeping capital punishment on the books. “No matter how hard we try . . . to find a way to beat all the error out of our system, I don’t believe that’s possible.”
Opponents of the repeal countered that lawmakers were robbing prosecutors of an important tool.
“We really are reducing our ability to deal with the most severe crimes committed in our state,” said Sen. Joseph M. Getty (R-Carroll), who voted against the repeal. “In many cases, these are crimes against humanity that need a sufficient sanction.”
All six members of the panel who voted for the bill are Democrats. Two other Democrats joined three Republicans in opposing the repeal.
The Judicial Proceedings Committee has long been seen as the biggest stumbling block for repeal legislation.
Maryland, where five prisoners sit on death row, would become the 18th state to outlaw capital punishment. Death sentences would be replaced with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Ultimately, the issue could be decided by voters. If a repeal passes, opponents have vowed to take advantage of a process in Maryland that allows citizens to petition just-passed laws to the ballot.
Sen. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) was considered the swing vote on the Senate committee.
During the debate Thursday, Zirkin said he had managed to separate his emotional response about people who commit murders from his legal analysis of the issue.
“As heinous and awful as these individuals are, I just think the state should not be involved in these executions,” Zirkin said.
Although the death penalty remains on the books in Maryland, the state has not executed a prisoner since 2005. The state’s highest court ruled in 2006 that new regulations on lethal injection would have to be adopted for capital punishment to continue. Under O’Malley, that has not happened.
With Zirkin’s support, there are 26 senators who are either co-sponsoring the repeal bill or who have said in interviews that they plan to support it. That’s two more than are required to pass bills on the Senate floor.