Maryland AG Douglas Gansler says the bill put together hastily in a last-minute compromise in the Maryland Senate is "ill-prepared, ill-thought-out, awkward and clumsy," reports Julie Bykowicz in the BaltSun. "'These artificial limits [in the bill] do not make sense in the real world of litigation,' [Balt. Co. DA Scott] Shellenberger said."

At the House hearing, Del. Michael D. Smigiel Sr., an Eastern Shore Republican, and Del. Susan McComas, a Harford County Republican, bristled at the suggestion by death penalty opponents that the House should pass the Senate's bill without amendments so that it goes directly to O'Malley's desk.

The AG has this op-ed in the BaltSun.