Delaware lawmakers eye reinstatement of death penalty

(AP) – A bill to reinstate Delaware's death penalty, which the state Supreme Court declared unconstitutional last year, is headed to the House floor.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted 7 to 4 on Wednesday to send the legislation to the full House.

Under the bill, jurors would have to find unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant should be executed.

A judge would have to agree with the jury for the death penalty to be imposed but would have the discretion to sentence a defendant to life in prison.

A majority of justices last year declared Delaware' s death penalty law unconstitutional because it allowed judges too much discretion and did not require that a jury find unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant deserves execution.