Maryland Citizen's Dream of Death Penalty Abolition Closer to Reality
To execute just one innocent person is too much, even if it means that people convicted of offenses like homicide will escape the ultimate punishment for their crimes
BALTIMORE, MD, March 04, 2013
The state of Maryland was going to kill Kirk Noble Bloodsworth.It was 1984. A nine-year-old girl was found in the woods near Baltimore, naked from the waist down, her head crushed by a chunk of concrete. In the ensuing manhunt, a neighbor fingered Bloodsworth based on a police sketch shown on TV. Overzealous police and prosecutors quickly got to work charging him with rape and murder.
It only took the jury a couple of hours to return a guilty verdict.
And this despite serious problems with the prosecution's side of the case, including two boys who failed to ID Bloodsworth in the lineup, five alibi witnesses who testified that Bloodsworth had been at home when the girl was killed, and DNA evidence that ultimately proved who the real killer was (although this evidence was not part of the original trial).
But Bloodsworth did not sit on his laurels and wait to die.
He began to defend himself, arguing for the inclusion of DNA evidence that could be used to exonerate him of the crime. It would be the first such case in the U.S. where DNA evidence exonerated someone.
Will Maryland Abolish the Death Penalty Soon?
New York Times reporter Scott Shane perfectly describes why we're moving toward abolition of the death penalty in Maryland and elsewhere in the nation:
"The movement to end the death penalty has garnered more support from politicians and the public as it has shifted from moral condemnation of capital punishment to a more practical argument: that mistakes by witnesses and the police inevitably mean that innocent people will be executed."
In other words, to execute just one innocent person is too much, even if it means that people convicted of offenses like homicide will escape the ultimate punishment for their crimes. Generally speaking, this argument is easier to swallow for even those ardent supporters of the death penalty.
And Maryland lawmakers are listening.
As Shane reports, state senate president Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. will allow a floor vote on a bill working its way through the legislature. If the bill ultimately passes into law, the death penalty in Maryland will be a thing of the past.
The Death Penalty from a Maryland Defense Lawyer's Perspective
Bloodsworth became the first person to be exonerated and spared the death penalty based on DNA evidence. He was a Marylander, which marks Maryland as the first state to experience a case of DNA exoneration.
Not every criminal defense lawyer in this state handles cases in which people have been charged with capital offenses that could result in a death sentence - but almost every defense lawyer knows what it's like to get to know his or her client.
The lawyer comes to know the client as a human being, not some abstract person on TV charged with a crime, and as long as the possibility exists that the justice system will get it wrong in death penalty cases, it makes sense to err on the side of caution.
After all, Bloodsworth was almost put to death for a crime he didn't commit.
Baltimore criminal defense attorney, James Crawford and his legal team defend clients against all types of crimes, from misdemeanors like shoplifting, to felonies like drug distribution and sex offenses. The law firm also represents clients in Baltimore family law and personal injury cases. People in Maryland have relied on the Law Offices of James E. Crawford, Jr. & Associates, LLC since 1992. To contact James Crawford, Esq. or a member of his legal team, call 866-635-0623, or visit http://www.crawforddefenseattorney.com/ for more information about his criminal law practice.
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