From this lengthy article in The New Yorker, it sure looks like it.

If true, what does this mean for the future of the death penalty?

ON THE COVER: Top court returns — The Court of Appeals begins its September 2009 term this week. The high court will hear cases addressing the cap on non-economic damages, legal malpractice and whether a truck driver can be guilty of vehicular manslaughter for leaving the scene of a gravel spill from his truck.

Also on the Court of Appeals — the judges recall their summer break; columnist Chris Brown ranks last year’s votes; and plaintiffs’ lawyers Henry E. Dugan Jr. and George S. Tolley III explain the importance of last term’s landmark informed-consent decision.

In Breaking News, Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton fights new charges; an immigration lawyer is disbarred after pleading guilty to fraud; and an attorney owes fees for having filed suit without sufficient justification.

In Verdicts & Settlements, a motorcyclist receives $200,000 in damages after colliding with a hand truck that fell from a passing box truck.

U.S. District Magisitrate Judge Charles B. Day of Greenbelt has no plans to take it easy after stepping down from the Federal Magistrate Judges Association after a decade in senior posts at the group.

Stay up-to-date with our Law Digest, which includes cases from the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court, Maryland.

The plaza-side entrance to the Baltimore County Circuit Court building in Towson is currently closed to the general public because the security screening machines are not working. Only courthouse employees, jurors and lawyers with Maryland State Bar Association ID badges are being allowed through that entrance.

All other courthouse visitors must enter through the doors on Bosley Avenue.

Happy Monday!

• Collaborative divorce isn’t so great, Dawn Bowie says.
• Is this gender-stereotyping discrimination, or is it sexual-orientation discrimination? “Prowel says he was harassed because he talked in a high voice, walked effeminately, was very well-groomed, liked to talk about art and interior design, and pushed the buttons on a work machine ‘with pizzazz.’”
• The woman whose online harassment of a 13-year-old girl arguably led the girl to commit suicide has had her misdemeanor conviction officially overturned.
• Anti-abortion groups can’t challenge over-the-counter emergency contraception.
• “Your Honor, Megan’s Law made me drive drunk.”