The authority to sentence convicted first-degree murderers to life in prison without parole rests with judges not juries, Maryland’s top court says.

Tagged with: death penalty life without possibility of parole

ANNAPOLIS – The Senate on Thursday gave preliminary approval to legislation that would make clear that legislators, in repealing capital punishment in 2013, intended for judges – not juries – to decide whether convicted first-degree murderers deserve the state’s new ...

Tagged with: life without possibility of parole maryland court of appeals

A court decision striking down the life-without-parole sentence of a juvenile offender in Virginia has provided ammunition for Maryland civil-rights attorneys who claim 200 convicts are being held unconstitutionally under de facto life sentences without parole in Maryland.

Tagged with: cruel and unusual punishment juvenile offenders life without possibility of parole