(FILES) The Maryland State Capitol Building is seen in Annapolis in this November 23, 2007, file photo, 33 miles (53kms) east of Washington, DC. Maryland on May 2, 2013 became the 18th US state to abolish the death penalty when Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley, an outspoken critic of capital punishment, signed the measure into law. The death penalty will be replaced by life imprisonment without parole in the eastern US state. The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton quickly issued a statement supporting the move, saying she hoped it would "encourage other US States to follow suit." O'Malley said in a statement, "evidence shows that the death penalty is not a deterrent, it cannot be administered without racial bias and it costs three times as much as life in prison without parole." The death penalty has been in use in Maryland since 1638, when the territory was a British colony. However, Maryland has neither executed a prisoner nor issued a death penalty since 2005, before O'Malley took office, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON/FILESJIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
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