24 January 2017 :

Delaware's Supreme Court has reinstated the convictions of Luis Reyes, 39, Black. Reyes was sentenced to death on March 14, 2002 for the January 20, 1996 murders of teenagers Brandon Saunders and Vaughn Rowe in a drug context. Co-defendant Luis Cabrera Jr. also was sentenced to death in 2002. On January 27, 2016, Superior Court Judge Andrea L. Rocanelli overturned Reyes' conviction. Judge Rocanelli questioned the fundamental legality and fairness of Reyes' trial, and found that his trial counsel was ineffective. The court said in a ruling late last week that Judge Rocanelli erred in overturning Reyes' conviction. The court reinstated his convictions and ordered him to be resentenced to life without parole, now that Delaware's death penalty has been declared unconstitutional. Judge Rocanelli vacated Cabrera's death sentence in 2015 but upheld his conviction.