Elected Officials Say Possible Terror Attacks Justify Death Penalty

Using Oriole Park as a backdrop, three elected officials told reporters Friday the prospect of a terrorist attack at sporting events and other public gatherings justifies repealing a new state law ending the death penalty.

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger, a Democrat, Baltimore County state Sen. Jim Brochin, a Democrat, and Washington County Del. Neil Parrott, a Republican, announced their plans to support an effort to use the website MDPetitions.com to gather enough signatures to challenge the death penalty repeal on the 2014 ballot.

"One only has to look back to Oklahoma City, Aurora, CO, Newtown, CT, and the recent massacre in Boston to recognize that if these crimes were committed today, here in Maryland, we would not have the appropriate penalty available for the prosecutors to decide what the punishment should be," Shellenberger said.

Parrott agreed. 

"The question we have today is, 'What if?' What if it was the Baltimore Marathon bombing? What if a bombing occurred right here at Camden Yards? What if a terrorist attack happened here at the Ravens Stadium?" Parrott said. "With the repeal of the death penalty we would not have an adequate answer to solve the problem of 'What if?'"  

The announcement of the repeal effort comes a day after Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the law banning the death penalty in Maryland. Maryland became the first state below the Mason-Dixon line to repeal the death penalty and the 18th in the nation.  

After the signing, O'Malley said the death penalty is on its way out across the United States.

“Over the longer arc of history, I think you’ll see more and more states repeal the death penalty. It’s wasteful. It’s ineffective. It doesn’t work to reduce violent crime.”