I think we should stop playing with these people. Put antlers on them and let them loose in the fields the day after Thanksgiving next year. Those who make out get to live those that don't well so be it.

What a joke these liberals in Annapolis are.

We need to STOP pandering to Criminals. These are the worst of the worst. If you go out and KILL, you need to be put to death. Why should tax payers pay for a lifetime of food, gyms, TV, doing nothing but sucking of taxes down the drain when they brutally killed someone else. Makes NO SENSE !!

Does this august group consider the input of the police in casting their votes? In case they wondered every cop who has ever worked in homicide will state the POSSIBILITY of the death penalty is a powerful weapon.

We need to ask ourselves, is it the body we wish to punish or the mind. When it comes to the death penalty few people could or would even want to distinguish between the two. They'd say its nothing personal and that anger and hatred is not involved, that its just deserts. After all its merely an eye for an eye. In reality it is the anger and hatred that drives the need for vindication through vengeance. If you purport to believe in the man upstairs then the rules are simple, "thou shalt not kill". Like it or not the commandment does not specify nor make attempts to justify exceptions. Only people do this. I'm not a religious zealot by any means but the law is the law and I for one would not want to face God and have to explain why I felt justified to over ride him. I agree that the perpetrators are to be permanently segregated from society but differ in how I believe this should be done.
If you feel that life in prison is not an option then there are non-lethal ways to remove this threat from society and exact a certain level of vindication without breaking Gods law and jeopardizing our own souls.
Why not offer the criminal a choice. They can always make it easy on society by choosing to be executed, in which case we can wash our hands of the responsibility. Or they could opt to have their spinal cord severed such that they would lose the use of their arms and legs. Confined to a bed for the rest of their lives, requiring only a feeding tube to keep them alive, would be cheap, would respect Gods law, and might even satisfy the victims family. I'm suggesting this tongue-in-cheek of course but it does force us to look at our own reasoning for capital punishment. You may find this ridiculous but ask yourselves why. Why is gassing or injecting a man with a lethal dose of poison any better? If my method eliminates the threat, substantially reduces the costs of incarceration and still respects Gods law then why complain. Perhaps you don't want to admit a certain need (albeit more justified than the perpetrators), to kill a human being.

Chuck while we are at it and making suggestions. How about this, leave the low life POS in a locked room with 2 family members of the person that he/she killed. No holds bared and the 2 family members can not be charged in anyway for what happens in the room. We wash our hands from the dirty work and if the 2 family members can live with what they do then all is well.

It doesn't sound like many of you have any awareness of (or are simply choosing to ignore) the background of these death penalty eligible cases. These are not people that are walking down the street one eveing and decide to commit murder becasue they are having a bad day.

I'm for a swift effective death penalty for all convictions of murder, and for brutal sexual crimes and terrorism (including conspiracy to commit terror). The fact is that aside from Texas and a couple of Southern states, the penalty isn't enforced where it's on books. Those who are executed wait 10+ yrs because of endless appeals that aren't available to people serving very long sentences for non-capital offenses. Simplify the murder law at least: murder 1-always life w/o parole, in special prisons similar to Fed Super Max. Video prisoners and show excerpts to high schoolers and felons in prisons. Murder 2: minimum of 25 years up to life depending on behavior and psych evaluation during the duration. Second-time + rapist-mandatory life+. Same with child molestors. Just cut out the everyone's life is precious nonsense-most people don't believe it but the MD Assembly lacks guts and won't take on non-Caucasian groups who would rather whine about racism than establish rules of behavior for their own young males. Rot in jail; and I mean rot. No weights, no basketball, no computers, no letters, no nothing. Keep a law firm busy doing nothing but keeping scum locked up and miserable for life. Cheaper than the current non-deathpenalty death penalty. And if it costs 100 grand+ to keep them in jail fo each year, cut that amount to the cost of necessary guards,minimal heating and water expense. These bums will beg for an injection.

You do not have to go farmdown south all you have to do is go to the Commonwealth of Virginia. They use the death peanalty and after Texas they are number w on the hit parade. If you have it use it and if you do not want to use it get rid of it. Remember when the Muhammad and Malvo were apprehended and Maryland advised that Virginia would go first and where is Muhammad now
Politicians in this state talk a big game but when you get down to the nitty gritty they are nothing but wimps and all they are interested in is taxing the spit out of people