Maine does not have the death penalty, having abolished...

Maine does not have the death penalty, having abolished it in 1887. The memory of a slain child brought the death penalty debate back before the legislature during the 1999 session, however. Jeffrey Curley was a 10-year-old from Cambridge, Mass., who was smothered to death, then sexually molested, put into a cement-filled container and dumped into Great Works River in South Berwick in October 1997. Nevertheless, Gov. Angus S. King has been steadfast in his opposition to the death penalty. The Governor said he has never seen real evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. "I'm just not supportive of the state killing people," King said in a 1997 debate. The bill to reinstate capital punishment for five specific crimes, subject to a referendum on whether the people wanted to restore it, was strongly defeated.