Maryland governor commutes sentences to empty the state's death row

(Image credit: Mike Simons/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Outgoing Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley commuted the death sentences of four inmates on Wednesday, emptying the state's death row. O'Malley, a possible Democratic presidential contender, led the push to abolish the death penalty in the state two years ago, and he said that executing the last remaining death-row inmates "does not serve the public good of the people of Maryland." Outgoing state Attorney General Doug Gansler (D) said carrying out the sentences would have been illegal since the state no longer has a death-penalty law.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.

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