Doctor refuses to reveal stance on death penalty

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Attorneys opposing Maryland’s death penalty argued in federal court Wednesday that a doctor’s testimony should be barred, after the doctor would not reveal his stance on the controversial moral issue.

As an expert testifying for the state, Mark Dershwitz, a University of Massachusetts Medical School anesthesiologist, refused to say whether he was in favor of the death penalty.

“I do prefer to keep my personal opinions separate from my professional opinions,” Dershwitz said.

Attorneys for Vernon Evans Jr. are challenging Maryland’s death penalty on the grounds the state’s use of lethal injection violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Dershwitz told the court that he recommended only minor changes to Maryland’s current lethal injection procedure and that, if done right, complications that could cause pain to the inmate should not occur.

“The right drugs have to be given in the right order in the right doses into the IV,” he said.

Todd Zubler, one of Evans’ attorneys, argued that U.S. District Court Judge Benson Legg should strike Dershwitz’s testimony because his refusal to give his personal opinion is “really indicative of bias” toward the death penalty.

But Assistant Attorney General Philip Pickus argued that Dershwitz’s medical career could be harmed by giving his opinion on the issue.

“For a doctor to give an opinion in favor of the death penalty could cause severe ramifications on the man’s career,” Pickus said, adding that it is “socially acceptable” for doctors to oppose the death penalty.

Legg denied Evans’ motion and allowed the doctor to testify, but said he would infer that Dershwitz supports the death penalty.

Throughout the trial, Evans’ attorneys have taken issue with Maryland’s “three-drug cocktail” used to execute prisoners. The attorneys have also objected to the state’s use of correctional officers without medical training as executioners.

If Legg rules in Evans’ favor, the decision could alter the way Maryland handles its executions.

Evans, one of six men on Maryland’s death row, was sentenced for the April 28, 1983, murders of two Pikesville residents, one of whom was scheduled to testify in a federal drug case.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

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