Earlier this month, Morning Read asked if Gov. Martin O’Malley would once again push to abolish the death penalty this year.
Although we still don’t know, it definitely seems to be something on his mind. The Baltimore Sun reports that O’Malley is meeting with NAACP President Ben Jealous at the State House today (upon Jealous’s request) to discuss the repeal of the death penalty. The NAACP is one of the biggest opponents to the death penalty and says it will launch its largest ever effort to get Annapolis to abolish it, spending more money in Maryland than it has in any other state.
The NAACP will hold a news conference after the meeting.
On Tuesday, an op-ed in the Huffington Post said O’Malley should use his “ability to get things done” to repeal the death penalty.
“In Maryland, politically, it's a paper tiger. For the sake of his legacy, and for the sake of promoting and leading us to a more humane form of criminal justice, Governor O'Malley needs to accomplish death penalty repeal in 2013. And it won't even be that hard.”
There have been no death sentences in Maryland since 2004.
O’Malley tried to repeal the death penalty in 2009, but could not get it past the Senate. The Senate has since become more liberal.
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