Sen. Alex Mooney, one of the most socially conservative Republicans in the legislature, is the focus of attention by advocates for repeal of the death penalty.
Mooney, of Frederick County, appears to be the swing vote on the 11-member Judicial Proceedings Committee, which will hold a hearing on the repeal bill next Wednesday.
“I?m going to wait till the hearing” to decide, Mooney told The Examiner. He pointed out that he had voted for the moratorium on executions during the Glendening administration, but he said, “I don?t think all-out repeal is the answer.”
Mooney is a reliable vote opposing abortion and gay marriage and favoring harsh penalties for criminals. But “I have an uncomfortably rather moderate view on the death penalty,” Mooney said. “I want to do the right thing morally.”
The Catholic Church has had unchanging opposition to abortion over the centuries and made it a core part of church?s “infallible” teaching, he noted. But “the church is not totally opposed to the death penalty,” just as it is not opposed to justified wars and killing someone in self-defense.
“You can make the arguments either way,” Mooney said.
On one side, there is Kirk Bloodsworth, the Marylander who was taken off of death row after DNA evidence exonerated him. Bloodsworth lobbied Mooney personally this week.
Mooney said for the most part he would remain open to repeal, but he has his heaviest reservation about banning executions for “cop killers and terrorists.”
Sen. Lisa Gladden, vice chair of the committee and lead sponsor of the proposed ban, said they have five votes lined up but need a sixth. Sen. James Brochin, a Towson Democrat, considered a moderate on many social issues, said he continues to support the death penalty, as he has in the past.
The Maryland Catholic Conference is one of several religious groups strongly backing life without parole as alternative to executions. But Sen. Norman Stone, the Dundalk Democrat who is the committee?s other Catholic besides Mooney, said he wants to retain the death penalty.
“I?ve always opposed eliminating executions,” Stone said. “I still believe it?s a deterrent.”
So much so that Stone is the lead sponsor on a bill that would overturn the Court of Appeals? temporary ban on executions based on objections to the use of lethal injections.
