Strange Bedfellows

Del. Bill Frank finds himself in an interesting position.

The Republican who represents the 42nd District, including Towson, Timonium and part of Pikesville, has been appointed to a commission he voted against creating to study an issue, the death penalty, that he says he supports.

Despite it all, Frank said he’s trying to keep an open mind.

“I’m ambivalent,” Frank said. “I struggle with it a little bit. I can see arguments on the other side.”

Frank was appointed to the commission as one of two picks allotted to House of Delegates Speaker Michael Busch, an Anne Arundel County Democrat. Democratic Del. Adrienne Jones, who also represents Baltimore County, was Busch’s other selection.

Frank said he was at a loss to explain his appointment.

“I’m not sure why they picked me and not someone else,” Frank said.

“I know what I think in my heart and in my mind, but I don’t consider myself an expert,” he said.

The 23-member commission is charged with reviewing the state’s death penalty law and making recommendations to address any racial, jurisdictional or socio-economic factors, as well as the risks of executing innocent people. It will compare the cost of executions in the state versus a sentence of life in prison.

The commission is expected to make its recommendations by Dec. 15.

The issue is one that has been studied at least four times since 1987.

Frank said he voted against a bill that created the commission on which he now serves “because I felt like we’ve been down this road many, many times. I don’t know what we’ll learn that we don’t already know. So, we’ll see.”

That knowledge will come at a cost. Estimates by legislative analysts place the cost of the commission’s work at about $42,000. Frank said “the rule of thumb with any blue ribbon commission is usually about $100,000.”

Former Gov. Paris Glendening’s 2000 study of the issue cost about $225,000.

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger says he hopes to use his position on a state commission reviewing the death penalty to explain why Maryland’s ultimate punishment should not be abolished.

“I think my role on the commission is to make sure everyone knows why the death penalty in Maryland needs to stay on the books,” Shellenberger said, adding that he believes it is used in only the worst of cases.

“I still firmly believe that the death penalty is an important punishment that needs to be available to prosecutors like me,” said Shellenberger, a Democrat.

Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, an opponent of the death penalty, appointed 13 of the 23 members of the commission that will review racial disparities, the impact of DNA evidence and the difference in costs to taxpayers for sentences of life imprisonment and the death penalty.

Also on the commission is Kurt Bloodsworth, who was convicted of murder in Baltimore County and sentenced to death. Bloodsworth was serving a life sentence after he was convicted in the 1984 murder of Dawn Hamilton. He was sentenced to death in his first trial but was granted a second after the Court of Appeals ruled prosecutors had withheld evidence.

Bloodsworth was exonerated by DNA evidence in 1993. Former Circuit Court Judge Jim Smith, now the Baltimore County executive, presided over the hearing that ended in Bloodsworth’s release.

Led by former U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, the commission is expected to report its findings in December.

Baltimore County long has been considered a jurisdiction that favors the death penalty. Sandy O’Connor, Shellenberger’s Republican predecessor, had a reputation for seeking the death penalty in nearly every case where it was deemed appropriate.

Currently, five inmates are on the state’s death row, including two sentenced for murders in Baltimore County. Four of the five, including the two from Baltimore County, are black; all five were convicted of killing white victims.

Does Shellenberger believe he’ll have to defend the county’s historical position on the ultimate punishment?

“I don’t know if ‘defend’ is a good enough word,” he said. “I think the word is ‘explain.’ ”

“It’s a representative Democracy and for 30 years the people of Baltimore County have spoken loud and clear on the death penalty,” Shellenberger said. “County residents believe in the death penalty, and I believe in the death penalty. I reflect the community.”

Sen. Jim Brochin says Maryland should now consider a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole for anyone convicted of raping a child.

Brochin, a Democrat who represents the 42nd District, made his comments after learning of the June 24 Supreme Court decision striking down a Louisiana law that applies the death penalty to anyone convicted of raping a child. (You can read the text of that decision here.)

The 42nd District includes Towson, Timonium and part of Pikesville.

In an interview three years ago, Brochin called for a minimum sentence of life in prison for such cases, adding “I wouldn’t rule out the death penalty either.” (more…)