The Maryland General Assembly on Friday approved a measure to ban capital punishment, which would make the state the 18th in the U.S. to do so. It now needs the governor's approval.
Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to sign it.
Supporters argue that capital punishment is costly, error-prone, racially biased and a poor deterrent. Opponents say it's a necessary tool to punish those who commit the most egregious crimes.
Maryland has five men on death row, though the measure makes it clear the governor can commute their sentences to life in prison. The state's last execution took place in 2005.
Capital punishment has been on hold in Maryland since a December 2006 ruling by the state's highest court that the lethal injection protocols weren't properly approved by a legislative committee.
The fertilizer-plant explosion that killed 14 and injured about 200 others in Texas last month highlights...
The Obama administration Wednesday for the first time acknowledged killing four U.S. citizens in “counterterrorism operations”...
A Chechen immigrant living in Florida was shot and killed during a violent confrontation with Boston...
