Death penalty repeal bill stalled for high court ruling

A bill to eliminate capital punishment in Delaware is once again stalled.

The bill's sponsors – Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, and Rep. Sean Lynn, D-Dover – announced Monday that they would suspend further legislative action on the death penalty repeal bill and would, instead, await a decision from the Delaware Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the current statute.

"It only makes sense for the General Assembly to wait for the Delaware high court to rule before we decide on further action," Peterson said.

The state House of Representatives voted 23-16 against the bill last month, but one of the no votes was a strategic decision that would have made it possible for a supporter of the bill to file a motion for reconsideration. That motion would have had to be filed this week – leading to another vote on whether to end the death penalty.

“We had the option of bringing the repeal legislation up for reconsideration in the House this week, but we will not do so,” Lynn said. “The prudent course of action at this point is to wait and see what the court decides.”

Gov. Jack Markell has said he would sign the legislation into law if it makes it to his desk.

The Delaware Supreme Court has agreed to weigh five certified questions of law that have arisen since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Florida's capital sentencing scheme was unconstitutional because it gives too much power to judges and not enough to juries. In the Florida 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.

“While I wish we had been able to pass this legislation in the House, I’m optimistic the court’s scrutiny of our capital punishment law has put Delaware on the path to repeal,” said state Rep. Kim Williams, D-Newport.

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. However, judges in Delaware have not been using that power.

Bill to abolish Delaware death penalty fails in House

Public defenders: Death penalty unconstitutional

The Office of Defense Services laid out its position to the top court in a written argument last week. The Delaware Department of Justice has until the end of the month to respond.

The court is using 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.

Rauf is one of over two dozen capital murder cases pending trial in Delaware. Four cases were scheduled to go to trial in the next 120 days, but President Judge Jan. R. Jurden issued a temporary stay on all pending capital murder trials while the issue is before the Supreme Court.

There are also 13 inmates on death row in Delaware. The last execution in the state was in 2012, when Shannon Johnson, 28, was killed by lethal injection. Johnson had been convicted in the 2006 shooting death of Cameron Hamlin, 26, an aspiring musician.

Contact Jessica Masulli Reyes at (302) 324-2777, jmreyes@delawareonline.com or Twitter @JessicaMasulli.