Outgoing Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley leaves his post this month, January 2015, ending his two terms with a bang by commuting the sentences of four prisoners in death row.

With this act, it would spell the death of death sentences in the state, complementing an earlier court decision that said Maryland does not have enough legal power to executive inmates in death row, using lethal injection.

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O'Malley, a staunch Catholic, explains, "In my judgment, leaving these death sentences in place does not serve the public good of the people of Maryland - present or future," quotes Washington Post.

His order would benefit inmates Vernon Evans, Anthony Grandison, Jody Lee Miles and Heath Burch.

The governor stressed that capital punishment are not cost-effective, does not prevent crime and do not confirm with Maryland residents' value as a people. He hopes the decision would provide "a greater degree of closure for all of the survivors and all their families."

In 2012, the state legislature repealed executions upon persuasion by O'Malley which he lobbied since his first term started in 2007.

Besides the commutation of death sentences, O'Malley leaves his post with other legislative legacies such as the legalization of gay marriages and a comprehensive gun-control law.

However, not all state residents welcomed the move.

One of them, Randy Piechowicz, who is a relative of one of the victims of the four remaining death-row occupants, said he hopes the state's political climate would change one day and the death sentences would be implemented for justice to prevail.

Another one, Mary F. Moore, said she is devastated and disappointed with the law. Burch, who was allegedly high on cocaine and other illegal substances, killed Moore's father, Robert Moore, and stepmother, Cleo Davis, in 1995 at their home in Capitol Heights, using a pair of scissors.

Baltimore County State Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger, a pro-death advocate, said, "I think it's interesting that with 21 days left in the administration that he decides to show mercy for two calculating killers." He was referring to Evans and Grandison whose convictions were made in Baltimore.

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