Gov. Martin O?Malley said Thursday that he would ask the secretary of public safety to begin reviewing the protocols and writing the regulations for carrying out the death penalty, opening the way for executions by lethal injection to resume in Maryland.
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly written O?Malley, saying his failure to reissue regulations to conform to a 2006 Maryland Court of Appeals decision was “a deliberate violation of your oath-bound obligations and duties as governor.”
Talking to reporters, O?Malley conceded the point. “I wish we were at a point to repeal the death penalty, but I do not have the luxury in this job or the permission in this job only to enforce laws that I agree with,” the governor said. “Sadly we?ll be moving forward with those protocols.”
The ruling by Maryland?s highest court said the state needed to follow correct administrative procedures on the regulations.
After that, the U.S. Supreme Court took up the review of the constitutionality of lethal injection across the country. The Supreme Court ruled the executions were constitutional and set those standards last month, which is why O?Malley said he was acting now.
The execution rules cover the number of drugs, the order of injection, the dosage and “all those other chemical and medical aspects,” the governor said.
The review of the regulations will go on at the same time a new commission will study all the issues related to the death penalty.
House Republican leader Tony O?Donnell said, “I?m glad the governor is finally living up to his oath of office and to the constitution by saying he?s going on to issue regulations. That should be rather quick.”
But O?Malley said both the commission?s study and rule-making will “both take the balance of the year.”
“That?s just more baloney,” O?Donnell said. “It shouldn?t take a month.”
