Soccer Dad: Maryland's death penalty

February 25, 2007

Maryland's death penalty

There's been some discussion about Maryland's death penalty. Not just because of Governor O'Malley's high profile opposition to the death penalty but because a conservative State Senator Alex Mooney is considering opposing the death penalty.

Maryland Conservatarian considers both stories in Situational Ethics who argues

I�m ambivalent about the Death Penalty. Like, I suspect, most people, there are instances of such absolute evil (like the John Thanos case the Governor mentions) that a resulting application of the Death Penalty doesn�t seem worth any anxiety. But the State killing anyone is still reason for pause so LEGISLATIVELY eliminating the Death Penalty won�t get much out of me.

What does irk me though is the selective application of statistics such as was done by our Governor so INARTICULATELY (it�s OK � he�s white). For many, deterrence is not even a prime reason for having the Penalty. Instead, the Death Penalty just seems an appropriate punishment for certain crimes against society.

Rhymes with Right appreciates the Mooney article but wonders how the Post would treat a politician who's opposition to abortion was also based on his faith.

It is a wonderful piece, and raises all sorts of arguments -- pro and con -- about the death penalty/life without parole debate. But could you imagine the Washington Post running an article like this about a liberal legislator going against the grain on abortion or gay rights, and seeking to bring their Catholic religious values into the legislative process? There would be howls of outrage!

CrabLaw quotes Catholic doctrine and tries not be cynical about State Sen. Mooney

I don't claim to know Alex Mooney's soul or personality; I have met him twice and found him to be a pleasant, straight-forward person both times, but that's it. His politics stand to my right, particularly on issues such as same-sex marriage. But I am prepared to believe that Senator Mooney might, just might, actually be thinking about the morality of the matter at hand, rather than how to angle the politics of the situation to extract a cynical benefit.

The Sun's iconoclastic columnist Gregory Kane last week weighed in after watching the murder trial of one of the suspects accused of killing his first cousin.

No, I'm going to take Taylor at his word. He didn't do it. Some other dude done it. So why was Taylor the first time I saw him - at a hearing on a defense motion to suppress a photo array in March 2006 - smiling when he came into the courtroom?
Why was he cheesing and grinning in court yesterday at two women sitting in the back of the courtroom who cheesed and grinned right back and blew kisses at him?

Let's recap: Taylor is accused of a triple homicide. He's accused of the attempted murder of Shawn Brown, who has testified that Taylor is the man who shot Antwon Arthur in the head the night of Jan. 10, 2005. Owens, his girlfriend who was living with him at the time, has testified that he went to that recovery house in the 500 block of W. 27th St. to collect a drug debt from Arthur.

While I didn't want to read too much into the column, it appeared that Kane was arguing (implicitly) that if murder suspects felt they were on trial for their lives they'd be a bit more concerned about the proceedings. Perhaps he feels that way, but in his next column Kane argued for the death penalty, giving other reasons.

Let's say there's an inmate serving life without parole. He has it in for a corrections officer, one like McGuinn, whose only fault was doing his job the right way. This inmate knows three things:
� He's got life with no parole.

� Maryland has no death penalty.

� He can kill the corrections officer and not get punished for it because he knows he has already received the maximum penalty Maryland allows.

Now, governor, would you want one of your relatives working as a corrections officer under those conditions?

There's more to the column, but it is a practical (not necessarily moral) argument for the death penalty.

I have few problems with the death penalty. Given that Maryland only executed 3 killers in the four years of Gov. Ehrlich's term in office and that the courts have put a hold on executions, I have little regard for those grandstanding now that abolishing the death penalty is a great moral crusade.

(State Sen Lisa Gladden is a criminal defense attorney. If the death penalty is abolished, it hypothetically makes her job a little easier if she takes on clients accused of murder in Baltimore County depriving prosecutors of some of their leverage.)

Baltimore City's murder rate is a much greater blot on society than the occasional exercise of the ultimate punishment for convicted murderers.

Blogdigger tags: Death Penalty, Maryland.