Maryland completes lethal-injection rules

ANNAPOLIS, Md., June 25 (UPI) -- Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's office completed new lethal-injection rules after failing to persuade the Legislature to outlaw capital punishment.

The new regulations, which include a protocol requiring execution team members to find a deep vein for an intravenous needle, will be sent to the state legislative committee for review, the governor's office said.

O'Malley, a Roman Catholic and Democrat, had personally campaigned to end the death penalty after the state's highest court ruled in December 2006 execution protocols had been improperly developed. The ruling created a de facto moratorium on capital punishment.

The new protocols largely mirror death-penalty procedures that were used by the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services but not formally adopted, The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday.

Protocol changes also include extending the time death-row inmates may spend with family before being executed and letting them order a special last meal.

Unlike most states, Maryland currently does not offer a condemned inmate a special last meal. Instead, the prisoner receives whatever food the general prison population is served the day of the convict's death.

While Maryland has used capital punishment since 1638, when two men were hanged for piracy, it is unlikely an execution will be carried out for months or even years, the Sun said.

The regulations must be vetted by a joint legislative committee co-chaired by two staunch death penalty opponents who could delay the regulations' final approval, the newspaper said.

While O'Malley said he would uphold the law despite his personal misgivings, he could commute the sentences of the state's five death-row prisoners, the newspaper said.