Washington County, Maryland is included in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. The closes states to Washington County is west Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Tennessee. The western portions of the Province of Maryland (including present Washington County) were incorporated into Prince George's County in 1696. This original county included six current counties. The first to be created was Frederick, separated from Prince George's County in 1748. Following independence, the sovereign State of Maryland formed Washington County on September 6, 1776, by the division of Frederick County. At the same time, a portion
Capital punishment in Maryland meal; instead the prisoner received whatever food the general prison population is served the day of the convict's death. Since the United States Supreme Court's "Gregg v. Georgia" decision in 1976, a total of five individuals convicted of murder have been executed by the state of Maryland. All were executed by lethal injection. Capital punishment in Maryland Capital punishment was abolished on May 2, 2013 in the U.S. state of Maryland. The death penalty has been in use in the state or, more precisely, its predecessor colony since June 20, 1638, when two men were hanged for piracy in St.