Bill to abolish Delaware death penalty fails in House
Lawmakers reject proposal to end capital punishment, although motion may be filed to reintroduce legislation.
- The state House voted 23-16 against legislation ending capital punishment.
- Fourteen people are on death row in Delaware, one of 32 states with the death penalty.
- The legislation banning executions may be reconsidered.
A bill to abolish the death penalty in Delaware could get a second chance, even though it failed in the state House of Representatives on Thursday.
The House voted 23-16 against the bill after about two hours of emotional testimony and comments from lawmakers. Two were absent from the vote.
One of the no votes, from Rep. Kim Williams, D-Newport, was a strategic decision that was made so that Williams, who supports the legislation, can file a motion to reconsider the bill in three legislative days. This will allow the bill to be contemplated again in the coming months and give supporters time to try to sway three lawmakers.
"I was disappointed by the outcome today, but I remain hopeful," said the bill's prime House sponsor, Rep. Sean Lynn, D-Dover. "This is going to happen."
Only a week ago a vote on the bill was unthinkable. After passing the Senate in April, it was blocked in May by the House Judiciary Committee for the second time in two years.
The bill got a second chance last week after House leadership unexpectedly released it for a full vote for Thursday. Gov. Jack Markell has said he would sign the bill into law if it passed.
On Thursday, opponents and supporters of the death penalty packed the House chambers in a decision that some said would be historical.
Bryan Stevenson, a Delaware native and noted social justice attorney, called on the House to vote in favor of the repeal, saying it is a major civil rights issue. He noted that about half of the 14 minorities on Delaware's death row are black and cases in which the victim is white are more likely to result in capital punishment.
"These disparities create this fear, this concern that the lives of some people matter less than others," said Stevenson, who spoke at a press conference at Legislative Hall. "For [African-American communities], this would be a really important step."
Mary Cairns, a friend of the Bonistall family, testified against the repeal bill. She read a letter from the family, who could not be there, about what it was like to lose their daughter, Lindsey Bonistall, a University of Delaware sophomore who was raped and murdered in May 2005 by James E. Cooke Jr., who is now on death row.
Cairns, while holding a picture of Bonistall, said Cooke deserves to be on death row not only for murdering Bonistall, but for constantly berating judges, jurors and the victim during his trials.
"He victimized Lindsey again and again," she said. "Her killer deserves the death penalty. Please don't fail us now.”
Cooke is one of the 14 inmates on death row in Delaware. The state is one of 32 with capital punishment.
Panel: Delaware's death penalty is unjust
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The vote Thursday was not the only challenge to the state's death penalty law. On a different front, the Delaware Supreme Court agreed to review certified questions of law that have arisen since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Florida's capital sentencing scheme was unconstitutional and that Kansas erred in its capital sentencing proceedings.
"After careful consideration, we conclude that there are important and urgent reasons for an immediate determination of the questions certified as they relate to the United States Constitution," Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Leo E. Strine Jr. wrote in the decision.
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Over two dozen capital murder cases are pending trial in Delaware and could be impacted by a ruling from the Delaware Supreme Court. Four cases are scheduled to go to trial in the next 120 days.
The court will use as a test case that of Benjamin G. Rauf, the Temple University law graduate charged with gunning down classmate Shazim Uppal, 27, in the parking lot of a Hockessin nursing home last summer.
The court was asked to review a decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of Florida's death penalty system, saying it gives too much power to judges instead of juries. In that case, a man was convicted of the 1998 murder of his manager at a Popeye's restaurant in Pensacola and was sentenced to death by a judge.
Delaware, Alabama and Florida are the only states that allow judges to override a jury's recommendation of life and, instead, impose a sentence of death. Judges in Delaware have not been using that power.
"Although the Superior Court recommended that we consider somewhat broader questions that would implicate the meaning of our State Constitution, we believe it is preferable to focus solely on federal law, and the implications of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Hurst, because the decision in Hurst is the major development that impelled the Superior Court to recommend certification and is the reason for our acceptance of this appeal,” Strine wrote. “Because we are aware of no state law developments that justify opining on the Delaware Constitution, we have therefore narrowed the questions.”
Speaking about the questions before the Supreme Court, Lynn said, "What I'm genuinely worried about is that the courts will repeal Delaware's death penalty by holding that the statute is unconstitutional, and thus, the Legislature will not have been able to do the right thing by virtue of the court doing the right thing.
"If the Delaware Supreme Court declares it constitutionally valid, well then, I think we've got to do something," he said. "People are going to be in a real pickle if the Delaware Supreme Court strikes down the statute, which would be the fourth time that has happened."
Stevenson encouraged the House to not let the Supreme Court review sway their votes.
"I don't think we should expect that Hurst will create an out on this issue," he said. "But it does raise important questions."
Tom Brackin, president of the Delaware State Police Troopers Association, said he is not concerned by the Supreme Court's review.
"If there is something that needs to be tweaked, that is something we can do," he said. "There is nothing that says you cannot go back and redo the death penalty statute if there is something that makes it more constitutional."
Following the vote, the Rev. Donald Morton, executive director of the Complexities of Color Coalition, said Thursday's vote was just the beginning of the conversation.
"The black community will hold the Democrats in charge of Delaware accountable, and we will continue to work towards the inevitable end of our state's death penalty," he said.
Contact Jessica Masulli Reyes at (302) 324-2777, jmreyes@delawareonline.com or Twitter @JessicaMasulli.