USA - Maryland. Governor Martin O'Malley has signed a bill that restricts death penalty

Governor Martin O'Malley has signed a bill that restricts death penalty. O'Malley says gives Maryland one of the most "narrowly drawn" death penalty laws in the nation. The bill restricts capital punishment to murder cases with biological evidence such as DNA, videotaped evidence of a murder or a videotaped confession. O'Malley says the bill all but precludes the possibility that an innocent person would be put to death in Maryland. The Democratic governor, who is Roman Catholic, opposes capital punishment and backed a bill that would have abolished the death penalty altogether. But he says the bill that passed is a step toward justice. The new law does not apply to the five men currently on Maryland's death row. Maryland has executed five people since reinstating the death penalty in 1978. (see also Jan. 29, Feb. 27, March 5, 14, 20 and 26)