Bill to ban death penalty headed toward rejection in Md.

Bill to ban death penalty headed toward rejection in Md. The death penalty won't be repealed in Maryland this year. But capital punishment could be the topic of a new study. The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee voted to set up a task force to study whether the death penalty should be repealed. The panel did not take a vote on a pending bill to repeal the death penalty. But its chairman, Democratic Sen. Brian Frosh, says it's ''pretty clear the votes aren't there'' and that a repeal is not headed to a debate by the full Senate. The study proposal still must be approved by the full Senate and the House before it would head to the governor's desk. Governor Martin O'Malley says capital punishment should be replaced by life without parole. But the governor has not personally lobbied for a repeal this term.