The Star-Democrat (MD): Gov. O'Malley should commute sentences of Md. death row inmates to life without parole
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Stefanie Faucher
Nov 24, 2014, 10:22:04 AM11/24/14
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http://www.stardem.com/opinion/editorials/article_b549c73c-e88f-5caf-9b46-3ddbeeab090c.html
Editorial
Gov. O'Malley should commute sentences of Md. death row inmates to life without parole
The Star-Democrat (Easton, Maryland)
Posted: Sunday, November 23, 2014 3:30 am
Maryland has four inmates on death row. In 2013, though, Maryland abolished the death penalty. According to a report from Capital News Service, two of those four inmates are seeking to have their sentences changed.
CNS reporter Max Bennett wrote that Heath William Burch — on death row since 1996 for a double homicide — is seeking a commutation of his death sentence from Gov. Martin O’Malley to life without the possibility of parole. Attorneys for Jody Lee Miles, on the other hand, are asking the Court of Special Appeals to vacate Miles’ death sentence and are seeking a sentence of life with the possibility of parole.
Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler has joined with Miles’ attorneys, although he wants the court to sentence Miles to life without parole.
“People should understand: Life without parole is a death sentence,” Bennett reported Gansler saying at a news conference, “You’re dying in jail. You’re coming out in a box. It might just not be as soon as it otherwise would be if you had the death penalty.”
Miles was convicted of murdering Edward Joseph Atkinson, a musical theater director, in Wicomico County. Miles was tried in Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court.
Both Burch and Miles have been on death row for nearly 20 years. Their convictions and sentencing were only the start of a very lengthy legal process leaving victims’ families without the closure for which they hoped.
Atkinson’s family still seeks solace. According to the Daily Times’ Vanessa Junkin, Atkinson’s mother, Dottie Atkinson, spoke at a news conference Nov. 6 about the potential for the murderer of her son to have his sentence commuted. She reportedly talked of the ups and downs of the appeal process, as well as her disappointment in the latest twist in the case.
“It’s been like a roller coaster ride to us,” Junkin reported Dottie Atkinson as saying. “It’s been appeal after appeal, and we get some hope each time and then all of a sudden — all these appeals have been in our favor — and then all of a sudden we get this news.”
Those who say it is cheaper to execute such criminals rather than pay for them to live out their lives behind bars are generally incorrect because, as Miles’ case shows, the appeals process is so long. Keeping them locked up is less costly than the mountain of legal costs associated with all those years of appeals.
O’Malley recently reached out to the family of Mr. Atkinson, as well as relatives of the couple killed by Burch, according to reports in The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post. Baltimore County’s prosecutor told The Sun that the governor’s office also was trying to locate relatives of the victims of death row inmates Vernon Evans and Anthony Grandison, who were found guilty of a 1983 contract murder of two people.
While we believe the death penalty — with appropriate trial and evidence precautions — should have remained in place for the most heinous crimes, Maryland has abolished capital punishment and has no protocols in place to carry out an execution.
As a result, the best course of action would be for Gov. O’Malley, who pushed for the abolishment of the death penalty in Maryland, to commute the sentences of the state’s four death row inmates to life imprisonment without parole.
By doing so, O’Malley hopefully will be able to end the lengthy legal ordeal of family members who have been faced with appeals and delays in the cases of their loved ones’ killers for decades.
--
Stefanie Faucher
Communications Director
8th Amendment Project
sfau...@8thamendment.org
Mobile 510.393.4549
8thamendment.org
Editorial
Gov. O'Malley should commute sentences of Md. death row inmates to life without parole
The Star-Democrat (Easton, Maryland)
Posted: Sunday, November 23, 2014 3:30 am
Maryland has four inmates on death row. In 2013, though, Maryland abolished the death penalty. According to a report from Capital News Service, two of those four inmates are seeking to have their sentences changed.
CNS reporter Max Bennett wrote that Heath William Burch — on death row since 1996 for a double homicide — is seeking a commutation of his death sentence from Gov. Martin O’Malley to life without the possibility of parole. Attorneys for Jody Lee Miles, on the other hand, are asking the Court of Special Appeals to vacate Miles’ death sentence and are seeking a sentence of life with the possibility of parole.
Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler has joined with Miles’ attorneys, although he wants the court to sentence Miles to life without parole.
“People should understand: Life without parole is a death sentence,” Bennett reported Gansler saying at a news conference, “You’re dying in jail. You’re coming out in a box. It might just not be as soon as it otherwise would be if you had the death penalty.”
Miles was convicted of murdering Edward Joseph Atkinson, a musical theater director, in Wicomico County. Miles was tried in Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court.
Both Burch and Miles have been on death row for nearly 20 years. Their convictions and sentencing were only the start of a very lengthy legal process leaving victims’ families without the closure for which they hoped.
Atkinson’s family still seeks solace. According to the Daily Times’ Vanessa Junkin, Atkinson’s mother, Dottie Atkinson, spoke at a news conference Nov. 6 about the potential for the murderer of her son to have his sentence commuted. She reportedly talked of the ups and downs of the appeal process, as well as her disappointment in the latest twist in the case.
“It’s been like a roller coaster ride to us,” Junkin reported Dottie Atkinson as saying. “It’s been appeal after appeal, and we get some hope each time and then all of a sudden — all these appeals have been in our favor — and then all of a sudden we get this news.”
Those who say it is cheaper to execute such criminals rather than pay for them to live out their lives behind bars are generally incorrect because, as Miles’ case shows, the appeals process is so long. Keeping them locked up is less costly than the mountain of legal costs associated with all those years of appeals.
O’Malley recently reached out to the family of Mr. Atkinson, as well as relatives of the couple killed by Burch, according to reports in The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post. Baltimore County’s prosecutor told The Sun that the governor’s office also was trying to locate relatives of the victims of death row inmates Vernon Evans and Anthony Grandison, who were found guilty of a 1983 contract murder of two people.
While we believe the death penalty — with appropriate trial and evidence precautions — should have remained in place for the most heinous crimes, Maryland has abolished capital punishment and has no protocols in place to carry out an execution.
As a result, the best course of action would be for Gov. O’Malley, who pushed for the abolishment of the death penalty in Maryland, to commute the sentences of the state’s four death row inmates to life imprisonment without parole.
By doing so, O’Malley hopefully will be able to end the lengthy legal ordeal of family members who have been faced with appeals and delays in the cases of their loved ones’ killers for decades.
--
Stefanie Faucher
Communications Director
8th Amendment Project
sfau...@8thamendment.org
Mobile 510.393.4549
8thamendment.org
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