Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler appeared on NPR's Kojo Nnamdi show last Friday -- one day after the State Senate's judiciary committee approved an historic death penalty repeal bill. But in advance of his 2014 run for Governor, Gansler is defending the use of state executions -- in spite of the momentum for abolition of the practice. Interestingly, Gansler will be running for Maryland's Democratic gubernatorial nomination with a potential death penalty repeal referendum as the backdrop to a 2014 campaign.
GANSLER SAYS DEATH PENALTY IS WONDERFUL AND FAIR // PROSECUTORS CAN AVOID HAVING TRAILS: Below Maryland Juice highlights notable commentary from Doug Gansler on Maryland's death penalty system; he told Kojo the system is "wonderful," and "fair" and "race neutral." Moreover, Gansler described how prosecutors can coerce plea deals out of defendants and avoid having to have a trial -- with, you know, evidence and stuff -- by threatening them with execution. An attorney called in to the show to call foul on that statement and Gansler appears to have not considered the idea that coerced plea bargains are an affront to our right to trial. Oy vey!
GANSLER CREDITS UNWILLINGNESS OF PROSECUTORS IN BLACK JURISDICTIONS TO SEEK EXECUTIONS AS REASON WHY DEATH PENALTY NOT RACIST IN MD: Strangely Gansler is also in favor of executing people in Maryland but goes on to say the system could still stand to be fixed. He also claims that the death penalty's success at not being racist in Maryland is due mainly to the refusal of prosecutors in Baltimore and Prince George's to seek the death penalty. But that's not much of an argument for the safety of the system. Its more of an argument to not elect pro-death penalty State's Attorneys!
GANSLER SAYS MOST DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS WOULD SUPPORT EXECUTIONS IF THE VICTIM WAS IN THEIR FAMILY: At one point in the interview, Gansler also seems to imply that death penalty opponents are being hypocritical and alleges that most of us would support executions if the victim was in our family. While some crime victim families do in fact support executions, in reality, lawmakers in Annapolis have been moved by the testimony of crime victim families who are still opposed to the death penalty.
The full transcript is available at WAMU, but I've excerpted some choice portions below. The transcript includes dialogue from Kojo Nnamdi, Doug Gansler, journalist Tom Sherwood, and some callers:
NNAMDI: A state Senate committee moved the plan forward yesterday that would abolish Maryland's death penalty.... What's your sense for the place it should have in Maryland right now?
GANSLER: Well, I think there are certain criminals who commit certain crimes that they forfeit their right to live on the planet if something that we know for sure beyond any reasonable doubt that they are, in fact, the people that committed the crime....
GANSLER: As a prosecutor, it's a wonderful tool to have because if you have that and life without the possibility of parole on the books as we do now in Maryland, you can have somebody plea to take the death sentence off the table and then the plea guilty to life without the possibility of parole....
GANSLER: I didn't testify this year one way or the other.... my concern is if you have the death penalty to make sure that it's administered in a fair, impartial, race neutral, socio-economically neutral way. And that's what we have fortunately in Maryland.
GANSLER: This system, though, the law that we do have in Maryland certainly could be fixed....
NNAMDI: ...the head of the NAACP, that organization is very involved with this debate in Maryland. He feels ... that race is nearly impossible to detach in how the death penalty is administered. Where do you feel race fits into this conversation?...
GANSLER: In Maryland, we don't have those issues because, if anything, you're far more likely -- if you're a white defendant who has committed a capital crime, potential capital crime to get the death penalty....
GANSLER: Most of those defendants are African-American, and most unfortunately, the victims are African-American as well. But the state's attorneys, those two jurisdictions traditionally don't even seek the death penalty. So in Maryland, we have a very good system in terms of that piece....
GANSLER: ... The last point I'll make is that I find that all death penalty conversation a little troubling only because we focus so much on it when we've had five people executed last 50 years in Maryland.
GANSLER: Most people who are against it, by the way, are for it when somebody in their family is raped, murdered and tortured, and you know who did it. So it's a very interesting issue on an intellectual level.
SHERWOOD: Opponents have vowed to take it the people for a vote. Will you take a position when it's on -- if and when it becomes something on the ballot? ... 'Cause you are expected to be a candidate for governor, you're going to have to have a position, wouldn't you?
GANSLER: Well, my position's fairly clear. I want to -- if we have a death penalty, it should be fair.... I never sought the death penalty. But I do think it's a valuable tool to have....
NNAMDI: I do want to move on to DNA. But Kathleen in Annapolis, Md., is apparently an attorney who disagrees with the notion that it's a good tool to have....
KATHLEEN: But regarding the use of the death penalty, when it's used as a negotiating tool, when it's really not a case that's appropriate for the death penalty, my concern about it -- about the use of the death penalty in cases where the reality is it would not be a death penalty case but is used to almost coerce a defendant into taking a plea guaranteeing a life sentence as opposed to the exposure to the death penalty. And I wonder if you had an opinion about that use of the death penalty. I mean, I understand you sort of...
GANSLER: Yeah. I think it's a legitimate concern. I've never actually heard that being used or an argument against the death penalty. But you can only use the tool of seeking the death penalty if the defendant is -- has committed a case that's death penalty eligible. And that's very difficult to do in Maryland because you have to prove -- they have to be a principal in the first degree.
GANSLER SAYS DEATH PENALTY IS WONDERFUL AND FAIR // PROSECUTORS CAN AVOID HAVING TRAILS: Below Maryland Juice highlights notable commentary from Doug Gansler on Maryland's death penalty system; he told Kojo the system is "wonderful," and "fair" and "race neutral." Moreover, Gansler described how prosecutors can coerce plea deals out of defendants and avoid having to have a trial -- with, you know, evidence and stuff -- by threatening them with execution. An attorney called in to the show to call foul on that statement and Gansler appears to have not considered the idea that coerced plea bargains are an affront to our right to trial. Oy vey!
GANSLER CREDITS UNWILLINGNESS OF PROSECUTORS IN BLACK JURISDICTIONS TO SEEK EXECUTIONS AS REASON WHY DEATH PENALTY NOT RACIST IN MD: Strangely Gansler is also in favor of executing people in Maryland but goes on to say the system could still stand to be fixed. He also claims that the death penalty's success at not being racist in Maryland is due mainly to the refusal of prosecutors in Baltimore and Prince George's to seek the death penalty. But that's not much of an argument for the safety of the system. Its more of an argument to not elect pro-death penalty State's Attorneys!
GANSLER SAYS MOST DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS WOULD SUPPORT EXECUTIONS IF THE VICTIM WAS IN THEIR FAMILY: At one point in the interview, Gansler also seems to imply that death penalty opponents are being hypocritical and alleges that most of us would support executions if the victim was in our family. While some crime victim families do in fact support executions, in reality, lawmakers in Annapolis have been moved by the testimony of crime victim families who are still opposed to the death penalty.
The full transcript is available at WAMU, but I've excerpted some choice portions below. The transcript includes dialogue from Kojo Nnamdi, Doug Gansler, journalist Tom Sherwood, and some callers:
NPR'S KOJO NNAMDI INTERVIEWS DOUG GANSLER ON DEATH PENALTY
NNAMDI: A state Senate committee moved the plan forward yesterday that would abolish Maryland's death penalty.... What's your sense for the place it should have in Maryland right now?
GANSLER: Well, I think there are certain criminals who commit certain crimes that they forfeit their right to live on the planet if something that we know for sure beyond any reasonable doubt that they are, in fact, the people that committed the crime....
GANSLER: As a prosecutor, it's a wonderful tool to have because if you have that and life without the possibility of parole on the books as we do now in Maryland, you can have somebody plea to take the death sentence off the table and then the plea guilty to life without the possibility of parole....
GANSLER: I didn't testify this year one way or the other.... my concern is if you have the death penalty to make sure that it's administered in a fair, impartial, race neutral, socio-economically neutral way. And that's what we have fortunately in Maryland.
GANSLER: This system, though, the law that we do have in Maryland certainly could be fixed....
NNAMDI: ...the head of the NAACP, that organization is very involved with this debate in Maryland. He feels ... that race is nearly impossible to detach in how the death penalty is administered. Where do you feel race fits into this conversation?...
GANSLER: In Maryland, we don't have those issues because, if anything, you're far more likely -- if you're a white defendant who has committed a capital crime, potential capital crime to get the death penalty....
GANSLER: Most of those defendants are African-American, and most unfortunately, the victims are African-American as well. But the state's attorneys, those two jurisdictions traditionally don't even seek the death penalty. So in Maryland, we have a very good system in terms of that piece....
GANSLER: ... The last point I'll make is that I find that all death penalty conversation a little troubling only because we focus so much on it when we've had five people executed last 50 years in Maryland.
GANSLER: Most people who are against it, by the way, are for it when somebody in their family is raped, murdered and tortured, and you know who did it. So it's a very interesting issue on an intellectual level.
SHERWOOD: Opponents have vowed to take it the people for a vote. Will you take a position when it's on -- if and when it becomes something on the ballot? ... 'Cause you are expected to be a candidate for governor, you're going to have to have a position, wouldn't you?
GANSLER: Well, my position's fairly clear. I want to -- if we have a death penalty, it should be fair.... I never sought the death penalty. But I do think it's a valuable tool to have....
NNAMDI: I do want to move on to DNA. But Kathleen in Annapolis, Md., is apparently an attorney who disagrees with the notion that it's a good tool to have....
KATHLEEN: But regarding the use of the death penalty, when it's used as a negotiating tool, when it's really not a case that's appropriate for the death penalty, my concern about it -- about the use of the death penalty in cases where the reality is it would not be a death penalty case but is used to almost coerce a defendant into taking a plea guaranteeing a life sentence as opposed to the exposure to the death penalty. And I wonder if you had an opinion about that use of the death penalty. I mean, I understand you sort of...
GANSLER: Yeah. I think it's a legitimate concern. I've never actually heard that being used or an argument against the death penalty. But you can only use the tool of seeking the death penalty if the defendant is -- has committed a case that's death penalty eligible. And that's very difficult to do in Maryland because you have to prove -- they have to be a principal in the first degree.
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