Legislators from both parties say they will try to
re-institute the death penalty in Delaware this year with a measure soon to
be introduced, reported The News Journal.
“Delaware has a long history of applying capital
punishment cautiously, judiciously, and infrequently,” said State Sen. Dave
Lawson. “These proposed changes would raise the imposition of such a sentence
to a new level, removing what the court found objectionable and strengthening
protections afforded defendants.”
The state Supreme Court last year ruled the capital
punishment law unconstitutional because it allowed a judge, not a jury, to
determine that "aggravating circumstances" made a crime heinous
enough to deserve a death sentence. There are 22 of those aggravating factors,
such as crime committed against a police officer, crimes in which hostages
are taken or if the crimes that are "outrageously or wantonly
vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture or depravity of
mind."
The Court's 4-1 decision also faulted the law
for allowing juries to find those aggravating circumstances without a unanimous
vote, using a standard of proof that was too low.
A bipartisan group of legislators
unveiled the "Extreme Crimes Prevention Act," which would change the
law to address those concerns, effectively reinstating the punishment. It would
require that juries unanimously decide that the aggravating circumstances
merited a death sentence, and requires proof of those circumstances "beyond
a reasonable doubt."
It also would require the judge and jury to weigh
"mitigating factors," which would suggest the death penalty was
unjust, against the "aggravating factors."
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