Examiner

Leaders of many faiths will lobby for the repeal of the death penalty in the upcoming Maryland legislative session.

Members of the new Interfaith Coalition to End the Death Penalty are writing to Gov. Martin O’Malley and legislators, urging them to follow the recommendation of a state commission that recommended a ban on executions. Its report cited racial and jurisdictional disparities in the use of the death penalty and questioned the cost of legal proceedings.

The group includes Catholic, Protestant and Islamic leaders.

A survey of more than 800 people last week by Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies found 53 percent of Marylanders favor having the death penalty. Forty-one percent oppose it, while 6 percent didn’t answer. The poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.