USA - Maryland. Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration issued new regulations that could clear the way for Maryland to resume executions

Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration issued new regulations today that could clear the way for Maryland to resume executions by lethal injection, raising the possibility that a 2½-year moratorium could end within months. However, it's unlikely that an execution will be carried out for months or even years. The regulations must be vetted by a joint legislative committee that is co-chaired by two staunch death penalty opponents, who could delay final approval of the regulations and are likely to hold public hearings. Death penalty foes plan to raise concerns about the drug cocktail used for executions and the presence of medical personnel. The regulations were delayed for months while O'Malley (D) pushed unsuccessfully to abolish the death penalty. The General Assembly agreed instead in March to tighten evidence standards in capital cases. The manual, written by corrections officials, must be approved by a 20-member legislative committee that is split between supporters and opponents of capital punishment. The manual is the first public document to lay out execution procedures since Maryland reinstated the death penalty in 1978. The biggest change is that the new regulations require medical personnel who inject the lethal combination of drugs into an inmate's veins to find an alternative to the arms if those veins are too scarred to accept a needle. Other changes in the manual requested by the state's public defender's office include allowing the corrections chief to grant an inmate's request for a special last meal; allowing the inmate to choose which of his attorneys he wants to witness his execution; and allowing family members to visit as late as 3 hours before the execution instead of 4. The procedures also prohibit the state from using a medical procedure known as a "cut down" to guide the needle to a hard-to-locate vein. A cut down allows the inmate's skin to be cut, a method used in several states that has been criticized as antiquated and as causing the prisoner pain.