Vernon Lee Evans

Vernon Lee Evans is a contract killer convicted for murdering two witnesses scheduled to testify against the leader of a drug gang. In 1984, he was convicted and sentenced to death together with drug kingpin Anthony Grandison for the 1983 murders of Susan Kennedy and David Scott Piechowicz. David Piechowicz and his wife Cheryl (Susan Kennedy's sister) had been scheduled to testify against Grandison at trial on federal drug charges.[1]

The case was intensely discussed in the political debate about eliminating the death penalty in Maryland.[2]

Conviction and sentencing

Evans' death sentence was overturned on appeal in 1991. The following year, a new jury again sentenced him to die.[3] In 1994, the new sentence was upheld on direct appeal to the Maryland Court of Appeals, and in 1997 a petition for post-conviction relief was denied. The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland denied Evans' federal habeas corpus petition in 1999, and in 2000 that decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Since then, Evans has filed motions for a new trial and to correct an illegal sentence. Those, however, have been denied as well. He was scheduled for execution in February 2006, but his execution was suspended. All executions in Maryland are currently on hold until the state drafts and approves new execution procedures.

The status of Evens' death sentence became unclear along with that of four other convicted murderers when the Maryland House of Delegates voted in 2013 to abolish the death penalty.[4] On December 31, 2014, Evans' death sentence was one of four commuted to life without parole by outgoing governor Martin O'Malley[5][6][7]

Anti death penalty activism

Concern that anti death penalty activists would protest Evans execution violently, Maryland State Police carried out undercover surveillance of anti death penalty activists for fourteen months. The operation was ended when it came to light; Governor Martin O'Malley called it an "infring(ment) on citizens' rights to free speech or public assembly."[8][9]

While on death row, anti death penalty activists enabled Evans to write an advice blog designed, according to the Chicago Tribune as "the leading edge of a strategy by death penalty opponents to use new technologies" by making the public see criminals sentenced to death as "human beings with lives beyond the crimes they are accused of."[10][11][12][13][14] In his blog, Evans claimed not to have committed the murder.[10]

See also

Sources
  1. "DP Victory in Maryland - Vernon Evans Wins Stay of Execution!". The AP. Retrieved 2006-02-06.
  2. Wagner, John (8 April 2013). "5 inmates on death row are at issue". Washington Post. ProQuest 1324365374.
  3. Levine, Susan (19 June 2004). "A Shorter Line on Death Row; Pr. George's Man May Be Months From Execution Date". Washington Post. ProQuest 409627652.
  4. "End of death penalty leaves five in limbo". The Guardian. 22 March 2013. ProQuest 1319797560.
  5. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley Commutes Four Death Sentences
  6. Bradner, Eric (31 December 2014). "O'Malley commutes Maryland's last four death sentences". CNN. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  7. Blinder, Alan (31 December 2014). "Life Sentences for Last Four Facing Death in Maryland". New York Times. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  8. Rein, Lisa (26 July 2008). "Anticipated Death Penalty Protests Prompted Spying; Md. Police Chief Says Surveillance Showed Poor Judgment". Washington Post. ProQuest 410227954.
  9. Dechter, Gadi (2 October 2008). "SURVEILLANCE WAS 'MISGUIDED': STATE POLICE SUPERINTENDENT TO ADOPT ALL RECOMMENDATIONS IN 93-PAGE REPORT". Baltimore Sun. ProQuest 406212753.
  10. Rich, Eric (29 January 2006). "Via blog, man on Death Row gives advice". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 420420620.
  11. McMenamin, Jennifer (27 January 2006). "Answers sent from death row ; Evans' blog gives a glimpse of his life". Baltimore Sun. ProQuest 406673143.
  12. Borger, Julian (28 January 2006). "Death row blogger describes last days of condemned man". The Guardian. ProQuest 246395804.
  13. "Deathrow inmate blogs in last days". UPI. 27 January 2006. ProQuest 467783295.
  14. Johnson, Andre (2013). Urban God Talk: Constructing a Hip Hop Spirituality. Lexington Books. p. 98. ISBN 978-0739168301.

References
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