Blacks who kill whites are significantly more likely...

Blacks who kill whites are significantly more likely to face the death penalty in Maryland than are blacks who kill blacks or white killers, according to a state-sponsored study. By itself, the study found, the race of the defendant was essentially irrelevant.
The study was commissioned in 2000 by Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat who supports the death penalty. The study was commissioned after concerns were raised about the fairness of the death penalty in the state.
Governor Glendening, whose term ends on January 15, ordered a moratorium on executions in May 2002, saying it would be "logically inconsistent" for the state to continue to execute people while it studied the fairness of the process.
Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the Republican governor-elect, promised during his campaign to lift the moratorium and review death sentences individually. He repeated that pledge even as he promised to study and consider the report.
Salima Siler Marriott, a Democratic state representative from Baltimore, said she would introduce legislation to extend the moratorium based on the report.
Maryland prosecutors want the moratorium lifted and new legislation to make it easier to seek the death penalty.
The report, which considered data from 6,000 homicide prosecutions over two decades, found enormous differences in how often prosecutors in different Maryland jurisdictions seek the death penalty.
Raymond Paternoster, a professor of criminology at the University of Maryland and the study's principal investigator, said one disparity was particularly surprising.
"Baltimore County and Baltimore City are contiguous. But defendants in Baltimore County are 26 times more likely to get the death penalty. In social science, you don't find many things that huge." Baltimore City has a significantly larger percentage of blacks than Baltimore County.
The report also found that choices made by prosecutors about whom to charge with a capital crime accounted for almost all of the racial disparity. Later decisions by prosecutors, judges and juries had little impact.
Eight of the 13 men currently on death row are black, according to the study. All 13 were sentenced to death for killing whites.
Professor Paternoster said he was disappointed with Erlich's stance.
"He has said that he would look at the cases on a case-by-case basis," Professor Paternoster said. "But what we have identified is a systemic difficulty."