After less than five hours of deliberation, jurors in a federal death penalty case in Maryland returned life sentences for two men convicted earlier of federal drug conspiracy charges and firearms violations. The federal case against Michael Taylor and Keon Moses was the first time since 1998 that U.S. prosecutors in Baltimore had sought a death sentence. The life sentences for Taylor and Keon continue a national trend identified last year by the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project. In an August 2003 report, the Project noted that 20 of the 21 most recent federal death penalty cases had resulted in life sentences and that federal juries had voted for life in 38 of 43 capital cases since 2000. Taylor and Keon, both in their early 20s, were raised in one of Baltimore’s most dangerous and notorious public housing complexes. Attorneys for the men presented evidence to jurors outlining their clients’ troubling history of neglect and drug abuse. (Baltimore Sun, April 29, 2004) See Life Without Parole. See also, Federal Death Penalty.