Governor calls off US state's remaining executions | Inquirer News

Governor calls off US state’s remaining executions

/ 09:50 AM January 01, 2015

WORLD DAY VS. DEATH PENALTY-NEW BILIBID PRISON/OCTOBER 10, 2014 Bed with thick straps used to hold down a death row prisoner inside the Lethal Injection Chamber in New Bilibid Prison, Muntinlupa City. Convicted rapist Alex Bartolome was the last person to be executed in this manner in the Philippines on January 6, 2000. The World Day Against Death Penalty is commemorated on October 10. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

Bed with thick straps used to hold down a death row prisoner inside the Lethal Injection Chamber in New Bilibid Prison, Muntinlupa City. In Maryland, United States, the governor of Maryland stopped the last four remaining executions in the state. INQUIRER

WASHINGTON, United States – The governor of Maryland commuted the sentences for the US state’s four remaining death row inmates Wednesday, a year and a half after capital punishment was abolished there.

Governor Martin O’Malley said he had reduced the sentences to life in prison without parole, after speaking with the families of those slain by the convicted killers.

Article continues after this advertisement

“It is my hope that these commutations might bring about a greater degree of closure for all of the survivors and their families,” he said.

FEATURED STORIES

Even though the four were sentenced before the death penalty was abolished, Maryland’s attorney general determined the executions would be illegal under the ban, announced in May 2013.

A total of 29 states plus the US capital Washington have either abolished the death penalty or no longer use it.

Article continues after this advertisement

In 2014, the number of executions in the United States fell to its lowest in 20 years , with a total of 35 inmates executed across the country, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Article continues after this advertisement

Three states alone — Missouri, Texas and Florida — carried out 80 percent of the executions.

Article continues after this advertisement

Death penalty opponents allege that over the course of 2014 in the states of Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona, lengthy executions — which at times left inmates suffering for more than an hour — amounted to the “cruel and unusual” punishment forbidden by the US Constitution.

This helped contribute to the lowest number of death penalty sentences in 40 years, according to the DPIC, which reported that only 72 people were handed down the punishment.

Article continues after this advertisement

RELATED STORIES

China to give parents of wrongfully executed man $330,000

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy.


Koko Pimentel: Let’s study deterrent effect of death penalty

TAGS: Crime, Execution, executions, Maryland

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy.

© Copyright 1997-2024 INQUIRER.net | All Rights Reserved

This is an information message

We use cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn more here.