Alsobrooks Will Use Death Penalty if Available

Proponents of the death penalty in Maryland announced Friday that they will launch a petition to overturn the repeal signed into law this week by Governor Martin O'Malley. 

Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger and Washington County Del. Neil Parrott will spearhead and effort to obtain the 55,736 signatures required to add a referendum to the 2014 ballot, giving voters the opportunity to overturn the death penalty repeal.  

John Erzen, a spokesperson for Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks, did not offer specific comment on the possibility of a referendum, but did say that she would consider seeking the death penalty in future cases if it were available.

“What her position has always been is that she will use whatever resources are at her disposal to prosecute crime and to punish those who have been found guilty of crimes,” Erzen said.

Alsobrooks sought the death penalty in a 2011 case against a man accused of murdering four people, including two children.

Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker applauded Maryland's repeal of the death penalty. Baker took up his wife Christa's cause as a death penalty opponent after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's and unable to continue her advocacy on the issue. 

Baker said in a satement that his wife was opposed to the death penalty not because she felt sympathy for people "who committed horrible acts of violence against innocent children, families or people." 

"Rather she believes that when you espouse an 'eye for an eye' philosophy, it makes you unable to see the hypocrisy projected by  a system of state sanctioned killings," Baker said in the statement. "By allowing state sanctioned killings, we shared common ground with the murderers from which we wish to protect ourselves."