Del. Senate sends death penalty repeal bill to Gov. Carney

DOVER, Del. – The Delaware Senate has sent legislation to Governor John Carney that would remove the death penalty from state law.

House Bill 70 would eliminate the sections of Delaware Code that set the court procedures for imposing the death penalty as a punishment for first degree murder, changing the maximum sentence to life in prison without eligibility for probation, parole, or a sentence reduction.

Senator Kyle Evans Gay, the Senate prime sponsor of the bill and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said “Our courts, previous General Assemblies and former governors have all come to the same conclusion that the death penalty is unjust, unconstitutional, and ineffective. It’s long past time that we move past this flawed and barbaric practice, and instead focus our resources and attention on addressing the root causes of crime with policies that have actually been shown to make Delawareans safer.”

The First State first abolished the death penalty in 1958 before the General Assembly voted to restore the practice three years later. The Supreme Court then found the state’s capital punishment law to be unconstitutional in 1973, only for the General Assembly to pass a new death penalty law the following year. Legislation to abolish the death penalty a third time passed the Senate in 2015, but failed in the House, despite the support of then-Governor Jack Markell. In 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that the state’s death penalty law was again in violation of the U.S. Constitution by allowing a judge, rather than a jury, to determine if the prosecution had proven all the facts necessary to impose a death sentence.

The bill now heads to Governor Carney.