Beltway Snipers Will Beat Death Rap in Maryland, Warns Prosecutor

NewsMax ^ | 10/29/02 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

A veteran Baltimore prosecutor warned Monday that Maryland State's Attorney Douglas Gansler's insistence that his state be the first to prosecute Beltway sniper suspects John Muhammed and John Lee Malvo could end up saving them from the death penalty.

Sandra O'Connor, who has successfully prosecuted more capital cases than any other prosecutor in Maryland, told Baltimore-based radio host Tom Marr that the state's death penalty statute wouldn't apply to the snipers' killing spree.

In order for a case to be death penalty eligible in Maryland, she explained, the defendants must have committed "more than one offense of murder in the first degree arising out of the same incident."

"This is what we call 'mass murder,'" she told the WCBM radio host. "But it's at the same time."

The Beltway sniper killings, warned O'Connor, "don't arise out of one incident. They move from place to place."

O'Connor noted that one serial murderer has already beat a death rap in Maryland because of just such a legal technicality.

"The (Maryland) Court of Appeals, in a 2000 death penalty case that was a serial murder said specifically, 'Our death penalty statute does not include serial murder,'" she told Marr.

The veteran death case prosecutor urged Gansler to drop his jurisdictional claims in the sniper case.

"If we had this case in Baltimore County, I would defer to the U.S attorney's office in Maryland. There is a federal death penalty, they move more quickly and they do not have the same kind of problems that we have," she advised.

Marr, who also broadcasts on WOR in New York, noted that while the state of Virginia has executed 86 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Maryland, with far more murders, has executed just three.

University of Maryland law professor Michael Milleman echoed Prosecutor O'Connor's concerns Tuesday morning, saying he thought State's Attorney Gansler was making "a big mistake."

"If he wants to see the death penalty imposed in this case, he should defer to Virginia," he told the Associated Press.

[arthurus]

Virginia has executed 86 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Maryland, with far more murders, has executed just three.

Possible conclusions to be drawn?

[jpl]

Possible conclusions to be drawn?

My beloved Virginia is a tough, no-nonsense state. Maryland is a criminal's paradise. These guys are toast though, they've committed far too many murders in too many different states.

[scooby321]

I saw a Maryland Judge say NO way the Maryland Death Penalty would be Legal against either person

[samuel_adams_us]

Who cares what Maryland, the land of the scum, does? Virginia will fry them and if for some god forsaken reason that doesn't happen then they will hang them in Alabama.

[Mr. Lucky]

Possible conclusions to be drawn?

Muhammad boo-booed when he committed murder in Virgina?

[arthurus]

far too many murders in too many different states.

Right now that looks like four states so far, Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, and Washinton.

[cynicom]

Ship them to Alabama, they will tidy up things for the northern socialists.

[arthurus]

Possible conclusions to be drawn? Muhammad boo-booed when he committed murder in Virgina?

How about- more executions correlates with fewer murders?

[JimmyMc]

Maryland State's Attorney Douglas Gansler's is from Montgomery Co. - the most liberal county in Maryland. He is looking to use this high profile case to further his political ambitions. Where was his opposition the the Gov. and LT. Gov implemantation of the deathpenalty moratorium in Md. And now Lt. Gov Townsend is willing to suspend the moratorium for this case. can you tell she is running for election and realises that she can't afford to appear soft on the beltway snipers.

[gusopol3]

personally, I think they should be let go-- just be sure there's a crowd there to welcome them as they emerge from prison.

[~Kim4VRWC's~]

Ping

[mathurine]

A turkey shoot fundraiser usually needs some turkeys to shoot.

[angkor]

"Obviously we have different views in Maryland and Virginia on whether to apply the death penalty to a juvenile," Mr. Gansler said. "We don't feel the death penalty is appropriate for juveniles."

--- State's Attorney Douglas Gansler
--- Published October 26, 2002, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.

[Ligeia]

Chris Gordon, a popular legal analyst who appears on many talks shows and news programs in DC said the Maryland death penalty law does not included serial killers, only mass murderers. Gordon claims that even if a MD jury convicts and the killers were sentenced to death, he feels certain the punishment would be overturned on appeal. Huge waste of time and money.

[oldironsides]

Democrat Kennedy Townsend is on the front page of the Cecil Whig looking at assault weapons and calling for more gun laws. No mention of her offices not cooperating with the FBI for 6 months. There was no mention of all the gun laws broken by most of the shooters. More laws will not stop criminals

[angkor]

Gordon claims that even if a MD jury convicts and the killers were sentenced to death

DA Gansler has already stated - on the record and in public - that he will not seek the death penalty for Malvo. He believes it is "inappropriate."

No further legal analysis is required.

And it is highly dubious that any of Maryland's "10 criteria" for the death penality would survive appeal.

Maryland is planning to let them walk.

I predict Malvo and Mohammad will mysteriously by transported to Virginia or Alabama in the coming days or weeks.

[Ligeia]

Someone tell this woman it is already illegal for Muhammad to own a firearm.

[Ligeia]

Chris Gordon's point is the death penalty wouldn't apply to Muhammad either since the law contains no provision for serial killers only mass murders. How does this make sense to liberals in MD who write these laws. It's not OK to walk into a room in a fit of rage and blow ten people away but it's OK to plot premeditated murder for weeks? I'll never understand the rationale for that distinction.