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USA - Delaware. Judiciary Committee passed HB 70 to repeal death penalty
March 20, 2024: MARCH 20, 2024 - Delaware. (HB 70) Judiciary Committee voted 3-0 to pass HB 70 that would formally repeal Delaware’s death penalty.
Legislation to formally outlaw the death penalty in Delaware was voted out of committee on Wednesday. State Rep. Sean Lynn (D) is the bill’s sponsor.
The Act eliminates the death penalty in Delaware. As such, the penalty for a person who is convicted of first-degree murder for an offense that was committed after the person’s 18th birthday is imprisonment for the remainder of the person’s natural life without benefit of probation or parole or any other reduction.
In 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled the state’s capital sentencing statute unconstitutional based on a prior U.S. Supreme Court decision because it empowers judges, rather than jurors, to find the necessary facts to impose a death sentence.
Since this court decision, Delaware has been unable to impose the death penalty, but it remains codified in state law.
“After more than 50 years of an on-again, off-again relationship with the death penalty, I think that what history has taught us is that this is an experiment in constitutionality that we no longer can afford as a state," Lynn said.
https://www.delawarepublic.org/politics-government/2024-03-20/lawmakers-revive-efforts-to-abolish-the-death-penalty-in-delaware-makes-it-out-of-committee
https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=129979 (Source: delawarepublic.org, 20/03/2024)
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