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Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. says he plans to introduce legislation in 2010 that would clarify last session's changes to the state's death penalty statute.

An effort to repeal capital punishment ended with a bill that restricts the death penalty to cases with certain kinds of evidence.

One kind was "biological evidence," and when the bill passed, lawmaker opinions differed on whether the term included fingerprints.

Miller's bill would spell out that fingerprint evidence would be sufficient.

The changes also called for videotaped evidence or confessions. Miller said last week that his bill would allow photographic evidence, as well.

Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach said he thought the bill would pass the Senate, but was not sure it would pass the House of Delegates.

Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, vice chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee and an advocate of repealing the death penalty, said she didn't think any changes should be passed yet.

A court ruling could decide that fingerprints are biological, she said.

"We don't want to make it easier to kill people," said Gladden (D-Dist. 41) of Baltimore.

Instead, any changes should wait until the 2011 session, the first after the 2010 elections, she said.