MD AG @DougGansler says #deathrow sentence be converted to #LWOP

Reports the Washington Post:

[Death-row inmate Jody Lee] Miles is seeking to have his sentence changed in the wake of the General Assembly’s repeal of the death penalty last year. The legislature’s action did not directly affect the sentences of the four remaining men on Maryland’s death row, but Gansler argued that the state is “no longer legally or factually able to carry out” executions…

[T]he state would like to convert Miles’s sentence to life without the possibility of parole, which he said is “in effect a death sentence.” Miles is seeking a new sentence of life with the possibility of parole…

Maryland has not had regulations in place since late 2006 on how to execute prisoners through lethal injections. A court found the protocols had not been properly adopted, and the administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) — a death penalty opponent — never implemented new rules.

With the death penalty no longer on the books, the state cannot develop new regulations on carrying out executions, even under a new governor, Gansler said. Keeping Miles on death row, Gansler argued, therefore violates his due-process rights.

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