The Maryland Senate on Wednesday approved a measure to repeal capital punishment in the state.
The new vote pushes the death penalty ban over an obstacle that blocked Governor Martin O’Malley’s attempt at repealing the capital punishment back in 2009.
The bill will now head to the House of Delegates, where supporters are confident they’ll get the votes necessary to push it though.
Lawmakers who support capital punishment, though, say voters will probably end up deciding the issue in 2014, when they anticipate that citizens will petition the issue to the ballot.
Maryland currently has five men waiting on death row. The state’s last execution occurred in 2005 when Robert Ehrlich was governor.
The death penalty has been “on hold” in Maryland ever since a 2006 court ruling stating that Maryland’s lethal injection protocols weren’t properly approved by a legislative committee.
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