FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 2, 2013

Contact: Tim Rusch, Tim@FitzGibbonMedia.com, 917 399 0236

Kayla Keller, Kayla@FitzGibbonMedia.com, 281 682 6212

Today, Governor Martin O’Malley signed a bill banning the death penalty in Maryland. The bill was passed by the General Assembly in March after having languished in the Senate Judiciary Committee for years — failing to reach the floor in 10 of the previous 12 sessions.

The bill finally reached the floor thanks in part to pressure from ColorOfChange members and coalition partners. The heated floor debate in both chambers marked the first time since the practice was reinstated in 1978 that either the House or the Senate deliberated the death penalty.

ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson said, “We applaud Governor O’Malley for his leadership in abolishing the death penalty in Maryland. It’s clear that there is a pattern of blatant racial prejudice in our application of capital punishment and ColorOfChange members understand that race and geography far too often decide which defendants are sentenced to death.”

“The ColorOfChange community will continue to fight the death penalty state-by-state where this inhumane and racist punishment still exists,” he continued. Beginning in December, Maryland ColorOfChange members signed a petition calling on the General Assembly to vote in favor of proposed legislation to repeal the death penalty. The Maryland ColorOfChange community generated more than 1,000 petition signatures and dozens of phone calls from members to Senators and Delegates across the state.

“ColorOfChange is tremendously thankful for the work of MD CASE, the NAACP, Equal Justice USA, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP), Amnesty International, MomsRising.org and numerous other advocates who have fought tirelessly against the state’s death penalty for years,” concluded Robinson.

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With more than 850,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest online civil rights organization.