Capital punishment was abolished via the legislative process on May 2, 2013, in the U.S. state of Maryland.
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The death penalty had been in use in the state or, more precisely, its predecessor colony since June 20, 1638, when two men were hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
for piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
in St. Mary's County. A total of 309 people were executed by a variety of methods from 1638 to June 9, 1961, the last execution before ''Furman v. Georgia
''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court invalidated all then existing legal constructions for the death penalty in the United States. It was 5–4 decision, with each memb ...
''. Since that time, five people have been executed.
The "Death Row" for men was in the North Branch Correctional Institution
North Branch Correctional Institution (NBCI) is a high-tech, maximum security prison or "hyper-max prison" operated by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services in Cresaptown, unincorporated Allegany County, Maryland, ...
in Western Maryland's Cumberland area. The execution chamber was in the Metropolitan Transition Center
The Maryland Metropolitan Transition Center (MTC), formerly known as the historic "Maryland Penitentiary", is a maximum pre-trial security Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services prison located in Baltimore facing Greenmo ...
(the former Maryland Penitentiary). The five men who were on the State's "death row" were moved in June 2010 from the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center
The Chesapeake Detention Facility (CDF), previously the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center (MCAC), is a maximum level II (supermax or control unit) prison operated by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services in Balt ...
.[Calvert, Scott and Kate Smith.]
Death row inmates transferred to W. Maryland
" ''The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by T ...
''. June 25, 2010. Retrieved on September 22, 2010.
Early history
Up until the second half the 20th century, most executions were by hanging. The exceptions were a soldier shot
Shot may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Shot'' (album), by The Jesus Lizard
*''Shot, Illusion, New God'', an EP by Gruntruck
*'' Shot Rev 2.0'', a video album by The Sisters of Mercy
* "Shot" (song), by The Rasmus
* ''Shot'' (2017 f ...
for desertion, two slaves hanged in chains, and one female slave who was burned at the stake. All hangings were performed in public in the county where the offense took place.
In 1809, the Maryland legislature enacted laws that provided for murder in varying degrees. The mandatory punishment for first-degree murder was given as death. New laws came into force in 1908 which allowed the sentencing judge discretion, giving the option of life imprisonment. Then in 1916, the jury was given the option of deciding if they wished to impose the death penalty during their deliberations. They could now return a sentence of guilty "without capital punishment."
It was not uncommon for photographers to capture the final moments of a Maryland convict and offer these photos for sale following the execution. For example, on October 20, 1905, John M. Simpers was executed for murdering Judge Albert Constable. A photographer permanently captured that autumn scene in a series of shots.
This changed under new state laws in 1922, which required all hangings to be executed at the Metropolitan Transition Center
The Maryland Metropolitan Transition Center (MTC), formerly known as the historic "Maryland Penitentiary", is a maximum pre-trial security Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services prison located in Baltimore facing Greenmo ...
(formerly known as the Maryland State Penitentiary) in Baltimore. It was designed to get rid of "the curious mobs that frequent hangings taking place in the counties of this State, and who attempt to make public affairs of the same." 75 men were hanged on the Penitentiary gallows. Of these, 12 hangings were double hangings and on two occasions triple hangings took place. The first indoor hanging in the state, would come before this time though, with an execution on January 3, 1913, in the Baltimore City Jail
Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC, formerly known as the Baltimore City Jail) is a Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services state prison for men and women. It is located on 401 East Eager Street in downtown Baltimore, Mar ...
, which only had invited guests present.
There is one known instance of a botched execution by hanging. On January 30, 1930, Jack Johnson stood on the trapdoor after being convicted of a double murder. But as he fell through, the rope snapped and he fell to the ground below. He was left badly injured and carried to the top of the gallows on a stretcher. There, a new rope was placed around his neck and he was hanged, supported by a stretcher.
The Maryland government decided in 1955 to change the method of execution to the use of gas inhalation. A total of four men were executed by this method, the first on June 28, 1957.
Recent history
After the ''Furman v. Georgia
''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court invalidated all then existing legal constructions for the death penalty in the United States. It was 5–4 decision, with each memb ...
'' decision of the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that death penalty statutes were unconstitutionally arbitrary in their application, the Maryland legislature removed all arbitrariness by making death the mandatory punishment for first-degree murder once again. Such laws were found by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional in '' Woodson v. North Carolina''. As such, the Maryland legislature took the route which the Supreme Court had found acceptable in ''Gregg v. Georgia
''Gregg v. Georgia'', ''Proffitt v. Florida'', ''Jurek v. Texas'', ''Woodson v. North Carolina'', and ''Roberts v. Louisiana'', 428 U.S. 153 (1976), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. It reaffirmed the Court's acceptance of the use ...
'' and introduced bifurcated trials, where the jury first decided guilt and then punishment, mandatory appellate review, and the weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Further laws changes in 1987 and 1989 excluded juveniles and people who had intellectual disabilities
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation, Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signif ...
from execution.
The first person to be sentenced to death under Maryland's current statute was Richard Danny Tichnell, who was found guilty of murdering Garrett County
Garrett County () is the westernmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,806, making it the third-least populous county in Maryland. Its county seat is Oakland. The county was named for John Work ...
Sheriff's Deputy David Livengood in 1979. Tichnell's sentence was overturned on appeal, as were two successive death sentences that prosecutors won against him. A fourth jury declined to impose the death penalty, and Tichnell died in 2006 of natural causes while serving a life sentence.
In 1994, the method was changed to lethal injection for persons convicted after March 25, 1994. For persons sentenced before March 25, 1994, the condemned is given the choice between lethal injection and gas inhalation. John Thanos
John Frederick Thanos (March 28, 1949 – May 17, 1994) was an American spree killer who was convicted in 1992 of the murders of three teenagers: Gregory Taylor, Billy Winebrenner, and Melody Pistorio. He was executed for the murders in 1994, be ...
was put to death using lethal injection on May 16, 1994. This was the first execution in Maryland in over 30 years.
Governor Parris N. Glendening halted executions in Maryland by executive order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...
on May 9, 2002, while a state-ordered University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
study of capital punishment was conducted. The subsequent governor, Robert Ehrlich
Robert Leroy Ehrlich Jr. (born November 25, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 60th Governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007. A Republican, Ehrlich represented Maryland's 2nd Congressional district in the U.S. House ...
, ended the moratorium and resumed executions in 2004.
Administrative law challenge
In 2006, the Maryland Court of Appeals
The Supreme Court of Maryland is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The court, which is compose ...
in ''Evans v. Maryland'' ruled that state executions would be suspended because the manual that spells out the protocol for lethal injections was not adopted using the process required by the state Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
Evans v. Maryland
', 396 Md. 256, 914 A.2d 25 (2006). The state APA requires state administrative agencies to adopt regulation
Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...
s, which are defined as statements that have general application and are adopted by an agency to detail or carry out a law that the agency administers, using a process that includes a review by the Attorney General, review by a legislative committee, and publication for public notice and comment. The state's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services had adopted the manual without following any of these activities. The Court of Appeals noted that the procedures for execution in the manual were clearly regulations, and because they had not been properly adopted, they could not be used until they had been either adopted as required by the APA or the state law was changed. The ruling in ''Evans'', while not significant from an administrative law
Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regulations"), ad ...
aspect as it was consistent with state case law, prevented executions until an agreement was reached regarding both the need for the death penalty and in the method and procedure to be used to carry it out.
Abolition
The Maryland General Assembly
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber ...
in 2008 established the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment to provide recommendations concerning the application and administration of capital punishment in the state so that they are free from bias and error and achieve fairness and accuracy. Following a series of public hearings, the Commission submitted its final report, along with a minority report, to the General Assembly on December 12, 2008, which "strongly recommends that capital punishment be abolished in Maryland."
On March 6, 2013, the Maryland State Senate voted 27–20 in favor of SB 276, a bill to repeal the death penalty for future offenders. On March 15, 2013, the House approved the legislation by an 82–56 vote and sent the bill to Governor Martin O'Malley, who then signed it into law on May 2, 2013, declaring Maryland the 18th state in the US to ban the death penalty.
At the time of the repeal, only five inmates were on death row in Maryland: John Booth-El, Vernon Lee Evans
Vernon Lee Evans (born October 11, 1949) is a contract killer convicted for murdering two witnesses scheduled to testify against the leader of a drug gang. In 1984, he was convicted and sentenced to death together with drug kingpin Anthony Grandi ...
, Anthony Grandison
Anthony Grandison (born January 6, 1953) is an American drug dealer and murderer who was formerly on death row in Maryland. He was sentenced to death for ordering the killing of a pair of witnesses in 1983. On December 31, 2014, his sentence was ...
, Heath William Burch, and Jody Lee Miles. As the repeal was not retroactive, their death sentences were left in limbo. On April 27, 2014, staff found Booth-El dead in his cell. He died of natural causes before his fate was determined, after spending nearly three decades on death row. O'Malley announced on December 31, 2014, that he would commute the sentences of the four remaining death-row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Federal execution
Maryland's stance on capital punishment garnered attention and significance in January 2021. Dustin Higgs
Dustin John Higgs (March 10, 1972 – January 16, 2021) was an American man who was executed by the United States federal government, having been convicted and sentenced to death in 2000 for his role in the January 1996 murders of three women in ...
, a man sentenced to death by the United States federal government in 2000, was executed on January 16, 2021. Higgs, the first person from Maryland to be sentenced to death in the federal court system, was tried by the federal government instead of the state of Maryland because the crime he was convicted of took place on federal land
Federal lands are lands in the United States owned by the federal government. Pursuant to the Property Clause of the United States Constitution ( Article 4, section 3, clause 2), Congress has the power to retain, buy, sell, and regulate federal l ...
at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Prince George's County
)
, demonym = Prince Georgian
, ZIP codes = 20607–20774
, area codes = 240, 301
, founded date = April 23
, founded year = 1696
, named for = Prince George of Denmark
, leader_title = Executive
, leader_name = Angela D. Alsobrook ...
. Maryland House of Delegates
The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...
Speaker Adrienne A. Jones had urged Governor Larry Hogan to intervene and push for a halt to the execution. The execution was carried out on January 16, 2021, via lethal injection.
Former status
Maryland has not had a death penalty since Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill on May 2, 2013. Before the Governor signed the bill, only first-degree murder was a capital offense in the state of Maryland when it involved one of the following aggravating factors:[Maryland Code § 2-303 at the time]
#The murder was committed against a law enforcement officer while the officer was performing the officer's duties;
#The defendant committed the murder while confined in a correctional facility;
#The defendant committed the murder in furtherance of an escape from, an attempt to escape from, or an attempt to evade lawful arrest, custody, or detention by a guard or officer of a correctional facility; or a law enforcement officer;
#The victim was taken or attempted to be taken in the course of an abduction, kidnapping, or an attempt to abduct or kidnap;
# The victim was a child abducted;
#The defendant committed the murder under an agreement or contract for remuneration or promise of remuneration to commit the murder;
#The defendant employed or engaged another to commit the murder and the murder was committed under an agreement or contract for remuneration or promise of remuneration;
#The defendant committed the murder while under a sentence of death or imprisonment for life;
#The defendant committed more than one murder in the first degree arising out of the same incident; or
#The defendant committed the murder while committing, or attempting to commit arson in the first degree, carjacking or armed carjacking, rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
in the first degree, robbery, or sexual offense in the first degree.
Under Criminal Law § 2–303, the sentence of death is imposed:
The lethal injection procedure used in Maryland consisted of the anesthetic drug sodium pentothal
Sodium thiopental, also known as Sodium Pentothal (a trademark of Abbott Laboratories), thiopental, thiopentone, or Trapanal (also a trademark), is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anesthetic. It is the thiobarbiturate analog of ...
, followed by the paralytic drug pancuronium bromide
Pancuronium (trademarked as Pavulon) is an aminosteroid muscle relaxant with various medical uses. It is used in euthanasia and is used in some states as the second of three drugs administered during lethal injections in the United States.
Mecha ...
, which is also known as Pavulon, and lastly a drug which stops the heart, potassium chloride. The execution is completed when, using an electrocardiogram, a physician declares the convict to be dead.
Unlike most states, Maryland did not offer the condemned a special last meal
A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be.
Contemporary restrictions in the United States
In the United States, most states gi ...
; instead the prisoner received whatever food the general prison population is served the day of the convict's death.
Post-''Gregg'' executions
Since the United States Supreme Court's ''Gregg v. Georgia
''Gregg v. Georgia'', ''Proffitt v. Florida'', ''Jurek v. Texas'', ''Woodson v. North Carolina'', and ''Roberts v. Louisiana'', 428 U.S. 153 (1976), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. It reaffirmed the Court's acceptance of the use ...
'' decision in 1976, a total of 5 people convicted of murder have been executed by the state of Maryland. All were executed by lethal injection.
See also
* Crime in Maryland
This article refers to crime in the U.S. state of Maryland.
State statistics
In 2015 there were 166,510 crimes reported in Maryland, including 493 murders.
By location
Baltimore
Baltimore reported 223 homicides in 2010. The number of all ...
* Law of Maryland
References
External links
Capital punishment in Maryland
from the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services
The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is a government agency of the State of Maryland that performs a number of functions, including the operation of state prisons. It has its headquarters in Towson, Maryland, ...
Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment
{{CapPun-US
Maryland law
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...