Gov. Martin O’Malley today announced the appointment of Benjamin Civiletti, a prominent Baltimore lawyer who served as U.S. attorney general during the Carter administration, as chairman of a commission to study the death penalty in Maryland.
The commission begins its deliberations as O’Malley, a staunch opponent of capital punishment, has moved toward ending Maryland’s de facto moratorium on executions by ordering the drafting of procedures for the use of lethal injection. O’Malley, a Democrat, made that decision on the advice of counsel after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky’s use of lethal injection protocols that are virtually identical to Maryland’s.
Of course, we already know that Govenror O’Malley opposes the death penalty, but lacks the political guts to take steps in order to support its eradication. Instead, he is going to appoint a commission to “study” the issue, coming to the conclusion naturally that the death penalty should be abolished, to give O’Malley the political cover he needs to do what he wants to do.
Of course seeing that O’Malley put a cabinet member from the least competent Presidential administration of the modern era really make it hard to take O’Malley and his death penalty commission seriously….
