Second try at repealing the death penalty moves forward

New dogfight penalties pass legislature

The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee held a hearing Thursday to discuss the death penalty repeal, which failed to move forward last year despite an endorsement from Gov. Martin O’Malley (D).

‘‘We anticipate the same cast of characters as the year before,” Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, vice chairwoman of the committee and sponsor of the bill both years, said Wednesday.

Repeal efforts were thwarted last year when Judicial Proceedings deadlocked at 5-5 on the issue.

Gladden (D-Dist. 41) of Baltimore did not plan on introducing repeal legislation this session but changed her mind after the sentencing of Brandon T. Morris, a prisoner at Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown. Morris faced the death penalty for shooting a prison guard. In January, a Howard County judge sentenced him to life without parole.

‘‘Am I optimistic? Yes, of course. But am I delusional? No,” she said. ‘‘...In a year, a great deal of things can happen, so we’ll see.”

Jean Henderson of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions was also optimistic.

‘‘We definitely feel like we’ve gained some ground in the past few years, and we’re only a couple votes away,” she said Wednesday. ‘‘...The public’s ready for it.”

Maryland has carried out the death sentence five times since it was reinstated in 1978. Nine prisoners now sit on death row, but the Court of Appeals halted state-sponsored executions in December 2006 pending a procedural review of how lethal injections are carried out.

Capital punishment has cost Maryland at least $186 million between 1978 and 1999, according to an Urban Institute study commissioned by The Abell Foundation and released Thursday. A death penalty case costs the state an average $3 million, about $1.9 million more than non-death penalty cases, the study states.

Sen. Alexander X. Mooney (R-Dist. 3) of Urbana, a swing vote on the committee, said that despite intense lobbying from both sides, his stand against the appeal has not changed.

‘‘It’s one of those issues with a lot of good arguments on each side,” said Mooney, who said his proposal to amend last year’s bill to allow for the execution of murderers who kill again in jail was ignored. ‘‘It’s not black and white. There are a lot of gray areas.”

O’Malley’s proposal to expand Maryland’s DNA database to include people convicted of crimes of violence and burglaries is likely to be approved by the General Assembly, said Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville.

‘‘We’ve been talking about this for several years,” Forehand said Wednesday, adding that improved DNA technology and support from the governor have made the time right. ‘‘... The hearing really proved it’s a wonderful tool for public safety.”

The original bill required samples be collected at arrest. An amendment changed that to the time of conviction, to allay privacy concerns, she said.

On dogfights, a House bill that would mandate harsher penalties for spectators at dogfights and cockfights easily passed last week and a Senate version cleared that chamber the week before.

Amendments watered down the legislation from its original goal of making the crime a felony.

‘‘It is not the same bill as when we put it in,” Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., one of the bill’s lead sponsors, adding that he was disappointed by the alterations. ‘‘It never would’ve gotten passed in that form.”

In addition to enabling law enforcement to charge people who attend a dogfight with a felony instead of a misdemeanor, the original bill proposed increasing the maximum penalty from 90 days to three years and the maximum fine from $1,000 to $5,000. However, the crime will remain a misdemeanor, and the maximum penalties were changed to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

The amended bill passed 135-0 in the House and 45-0 in the Senate. If O’Malley signs the bill, it would go into effect Oct. 1.

‘‘The penalties are so low that I don’t think they’re prosecuted very seriously,” said Stone (D-Dist. 6) of Dundalk. ‘‘... If there’s a raid, everyone says they’re a spectator ... [But] in order to be a spectator, you have to know about it. These aren’t advertised. You have to be part of the group.”

People involved in dogfights or cockfights are often involved in other crimes, such as gambling, he said.

A 29-year-old Silver Spring man was charged Wednesday with numerous firearm, drug and animal cruelty charges in connection with an alleged dogfight operation, according to Montgomery County Police. Police say they found guns, drugs, ammunition, veterinary supplies, dogfight-related training equipment and six pit bulls with injuries and scars that seem to be from fighting at the home of Maurice Tyrone Collier Jr.

The case of suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who is serving 23 months in federal prison for running a dogfight operation in Virginia, brought the issue into the public light. Virginia legislators recently passed an act creating tougher dogfight penalties, including the reclassification of attending a dogfight as a felony, though the governor must still sign off on the bill.

‘‘The Michael Vick case did highlight how widespread and cruel dogfighting is,” said John Goodwin, manager of animal fighting issues for the Humane Society of the United States, the organization that approached Stone about the issue. Dogs that perform poorly are commonly executed, he said, and the animals’ living conditions are frequently inhumane.

Wyoming became the last state to make running dogfights a felony Tuesday. Attending a dogfight is a misdemeanor in 27 states and a felony in 19, according to state documents.

Maryland’s amended bill also gives judges the authority to order individuals convicted of being a spectator at a dogfight to attend and pay for psychological counseling.

‘‘There is a social concern that people who abuse animals will move on to bigger prey,” Goodwin said.