Maryland A.G. seeks life for one of four Death Row inmates

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Jody Lee Miles, one of four inmates still on Maryland's Death Row, should be given a life sentence with no parole, the state attorney general said Thursday.

Maryland abolished the death penalty last year, but lawmakers did not make the change retroactive. The state has not carried out an execution since 2005, and Maryland has not complied with a 2006 court order to develop new protocols for lethal injection.

Attorney General Doug Gansler filed a brief supporting Miles' appeal of his sentence.

"Whether or not you agree with the death penalty, the recent repeal of capital punishment in Maryland nevertheless demands that we pursue a prison sentence that ensures Jody Lee Miles dies behind bars, where he belongs," Gansler said. "Life without parole in this case will protect the public from a dangerous murderer by allowing by imposing the most severe punishment possible under the law."

Miles was 27 when he shot and killed Edward Atkinson, a musical theater director, in Wicomico County on the Eastern Shore. Members of the Atkinson family joined Wicomico County State's Attorney Matt Maciarello for a news conference to urge Gov. Martin O'Malley to commute the sentence to life without parole immediately.

Maciarello said that going through the courts could mean rounds of appeals and more pain for the family.