Maryland court stays execution after bishops ask governor for mercy

Published: 2006-02-06

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Three days after four Catholic bishops appealed to Maryland's governor to spare the life of convicted murderer Vernon Evans, the state's high court delayed Evans' execution for at least several months. The Maryland Court of Appeals set oral arguments for May in the case of Evans, who had been scheduled to die by lethal injection the week of Feb. 6. "We are very pleased that the court has issued this decision, not only because of our belief that the death penalty should not be used given the availability of more humane means of punishment, but also because of long-standing questions regarding Mr. Evans' role in the crime, and concerns over the apparent racial bias in the application of the death penalty in Maryland," said Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington, in an e-mailed statement. In a Feb. 3 letter, Cardinal McCarrick, Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore and Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli of Wilmington, Del., whose dioceses include parts of Maryland, petitioned Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich to commute Evans' sentence to life in prison without parole.

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