Maryland DP Commission:  The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment, in which most of the members were death penalty opponents, recently released its majority report.  They were mostly against it.  As we learned from similar efforts in New Jersey, Illinois and California, when a commission of mostly death penalty opponents is appointed to study the death penalty, the majority report reflects the opinion of the majority.  A story by Dilip Paliath on examiner.com presents the perspective of Delegate Bill Frank, a member of commission's minority. 

Cop Killer Sentenced to Death:  For the first time in 49 years, a New Hampshire jury has sentenced a murderer to death.  AP writer Beth LaMontagne Hall reports that Michael Addison was on a week-long crime spree when Officer Michael Briggs confronted him in a Manchester alley.  Addison turned and shot Briggs in the head.  Briggs left a wife and two young sons.  Governor John Lynch, who said the death penalty was appropriate in this case,  promised to veto any attempt to repeal or scale back the state's death penalty law