That sounds disturbingly like a cop-out. Passing laws is a function of the legislature. State senators and delegates will decide sometime this term whether to pass a bill outlawing the death penalty in Maryland or vote such a bill down.

This is about O’Malley’s power as governor. As chief executive in this state, he can commute the sentence of any prisoner. He could have those five men taken off death row today, if he wanted to. And if the death penalty is as immoral as the governor says it is, then what’s he waiting for? Passing the buck to the legislature is the action of a wimpy-pants. O’Malley’s a lot of things, some good, some bad. But on the list of things O’Malley is, “wimpy-pants” is definitely not written.

Could it be our governor may have some nagging doubts about the effect outlawing the death penalty would have? If he does, that’s a good thing. Because he should.

If O’Malley were to commute the sentences of the men on death row to life without parole and then one of those inmates subsequently murdered another inmate or a corrections officer, then that death would be on O’Malley’s head. If legislators outlaw the death penalty and the same thing happens, any murder committed by a death row inmate after that is on their heads.

O’Malley may be thinking “Hey, I’m not taking that weight alone.” And I can’t blame him. No governor should have to take that weight alone, not when he can get a couple of hundred well-meaning but misguided legislators to take the weight with him.

Some of that weight – I’d say a couple of hundred tons or so – will be no effective punishment for the inmates who allegedly murdered corrections Officer David McGuinn, assuming they’re convicted.

Perhaps I should refresh your memory about McGuinn, in case you’ve forgotten who he is. Lord knows, our governor and many of our legislators have forgotten. The question has been put to them, several times, of how exactly McGuinn’s murderers will be punished if they’re convicted and Maryland has no death penalty.

Both men were serving life with so much time added that they might as well have been serving life without parole. One July night in 2006, McGuinn was doing cell checks at the now-closed Maryland House of Correction when two inmates got out of their cells and stabbed him to death. Nearly two and a half years later, the men charged with killing McGuinn have yet to go to trial.

My guess is they won’t go to trial before this legislative session is over. If legislators outlaw capital punishment, they will in effect have given both these men, assuming they’re guilty, a kill-McGuinn-and-get-out-of-punishment-free card. Giving them an extra life sentence won’t faze either man one iota.

But punishing murderers is not high on the list of priorities those who oppose the death penalty out of a need to find a new “victim du jour.” (These people should not be confused with those who oppose the death penalty on the principle that all killing is wrong. If you’re anti-death penalty and “pro-choice,” you’re not in the latter category.)

For the “victim du jour” crowd, death row inmates are now the favorite victims. As sure as you’re reading this, once capital punishment is outlawed, then inmates serving life without parole will be the new victims du jour. Then it will be inmates serving life WITH parole. Before too long, they’ll have the sentence for felony murder whittled down to a fine and court costs.

That last sentence is, of course, a bit of hyperbole. (Though some on the left, where much of the anti-death penalty crowd hangs out, have advocated the abolition of prisons.) But rest assured the beast of unintended — and negative — consequences lurks, waiting to bite a king-sized chunk out of our derrieres once capital punishment is gone.

Gregory Kane is a columnist who has written about Baltimore and Maryland for more than 15 years. His final column in The Baltimore Examiner will run this Sunday.