Wrongly executed Marylander should remind us of death penalty's current problems. And every Marylander should be terrified by the idea that eight decades from now, someone could be apologizing for the death-penalty injustices taking place today in our state. Everything that was wrong with Snowden's execution can be found among cases along Maryland's death row today. Witnesses who changed their stories. Flimsy physical evidence.
Jurors unsure that death was the proper punishment.
A rabid community push to exact the ultimate punishment when victims are white and suspects are black. Gov. Parris N. Glendening said John Snowden's 1919 execution was probably a horrible iniquity because of the doubt that surrounded the case. But he could have been talking about any number of the inmates awaiting execution in Maryland right now, and some who have already been killed. The state will likely be answering that query sooner, rather than later. This year, the General Assembly came enticingly close to approving a moratorium on death-penalty executions until the study is completed.