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Correct a Terrible Mistake

By standdown

That's the title of a Baltimore Sun OpEd by former Maryland Speaker of the House Casper Taylor.  LINKIn 28 years in the Maryland House of Delegates, nine as speaker, I cast thousands of votes. I have few regrets. But there is one vote I wish I could take back - my 1978 vote to reinstate the death penalty in Maryland.My vote seemed reasonable at the time. The Supreme Court had thrown out all state death penalty laws. Like other states, Maryland re-enacted the death penalty by approving a system that complied with new criteria established by the high court. Today, that vote haunts me. Since reinstatement, Maryland's 30 years of experience with the death penalty have been a colossal failure. I now believe that life in prison without the possibility of parole is a better alternative...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on February 18, 2009 (boomark / email).