[CNN - 5/9/02] ANNAPOLIS, Maryland -- Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening imposed a moratorium on executions Thursday until the state finishes a study on whether there is racial bias in the use of the death penalty.
Glendening, a Democrat, said he envisions the stay remaining in place "until the study is reviewed and acted upon by the legislature, which I expect to take about one year."
Glendening stopped the execution of Wesley Eugene Baker, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection some time next week, and said he would stay any other executions that come before him. Baker was convicted of a 1991 murder.
Nine of the 13 people on death row in Maryland are African-American, including Baker. During his tenure, Glendening allowed the state to go forward with two executions, but he commuted a third. The Baker case was the fourth such case to come before him.
"It is imperative that I, as well as our citizens, have complete confidence that the legal process involved in capital cases is fair and impartial," Glendening said.
"An extensive two-year study by the University of Maryland examining the effects of racial and jurisdictional factors on the imposition of the death penalty is nearing completion."
The university study was commissioned in the spring of 2000 and is expected to be completed later this year.
"Given that the study will be released soon, and the critical need to be absolutely sure of the integrity of the process, I am issuing a stay for this case, and I will stay any others that come before me, pending completion of the study," the governor said.
Glendening has said the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime, but believes that there are some crimes so vicious that society has the right to impose the harshest of all punishments, said Karen White, the governor's spokeswoman.
Glendening said the decision to halt executions was a "difficult" one that was not "based on the specifics of these cases."
"While I have not conducted a full and comprehensive review of each case, I do know that the crimes for which the death row inmates were convicted and sentenced were vicious. They are precisely the type of terrible murders that call for the ultimate sanction," he said.
Glendening, whose second and final term of office ends in January, said the next governor "will have the authority to adjust the timetable" on the moratorium.
Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a Democratic candidate for governor, called for a death penalty moratorium last week and met with Glendening on the issue, although she did not discuss Baker's case or other individual cases, according to a Townsend campaign spokeswoman.
"Kathleen Kennedy Townsend supports the death penalty but believes if you are going to impose the death penalty you must be sure it is as fair as possible," the spokeswoman said.
"We support this moratorium because it gives us an opportunity to clarify that we are being as fair and just as we can be and we must be."
Illinois Gov. George Ryan declared the nation's first moratorium in 2000. The Associated Press reported that last month, a commission appointed by Ryan recommended 85 reforms to reduce the possibility of wrongful convictions. Some of the reforms included cutting the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty and videotaping police interrogations.
[posted 5/12/02]
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