The Maryland Court of Appeals, in denying a request...

The Maryland Court of Appeals, in denying a request to expedite death row inmate Steven Oken's appeals, has effectively placed at least a temporary moratorium on executions. The court ruled that it would not schedule a hearing on Oken's appeal until its 2001 term, which begins in September. Oken's appeal raises the question of the constitutionality in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in Apprendi v. New Jersey.The court's ruling came three days after a filibuster in the Senate kept a moratorium bill from being voted on. The bill, which passed the House in March, would have suspended executions pending the results of a University of Maryland study on racial disparities in the death penalty. Currently, Maryland has the highest percentage of blacks on death row of any state.