Maryland

Md. executions halted - baltimoresun.com

In a narrowly tailored decision with potentially sweeping consequences, Maryland's highest court ordered a halt yesterday to executions in the state, ruling that procedures for putting prisoners to death were never submitted for the public review required by law.

Under the Court of Appeals ruling, state prison officials face the prospect of having to submit the execution protocols to the scrutiny of a joint legislative committee and schedule a public hearing on the issue. Alternatively, the court ruled, the legislature could exempt the execution procedures from that review process - something that one state senator characterized as "very unlikely."