Attorney General Matt Denn has decided not to appeal the decision to the United States Supreme Court that struck down the state’s death penalty.
The Delaware Supreme Court made the ruling in a split decision.
In a statement, Denn “concluded that even if the United States Supreme Court reversed the opinion on Federal Constitutional grounds, that the Delaware Supreme Court would ultimately invalidate Delaware’s current death penalty statute based on the Constitution of the State of Delaware. The Delaware Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that the Delaware Constitution provides rights to a jury trial that are independent of and in some instances more expansive than those provided by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Litigating and appealing these issues – a process that would likely take years before issues of both federal and state constitutional law were resolved — would likely not only bring about the same result, but would also deny the families of victims sentencing finality.”
He went on to state that “while the application of the Delaware Supreme Court’s opinion to sentences already imposed will undoubtedly be litigated in Delaware courts, the Delaware Department of Justice does not believe that the Delaware Supreme Court’s opinion applies retroactively.”
Denn stated that he would support an amendment – which would require passage by the General Assembly and approval by the governor – to Delaware’s death penalty statute that would require a unanimous jury verdict to impose a death sentence.
Republicans have vowed to bring back the death penalty issue in the next legislative session.
At the same time, once broad public support has waned over the years, due to the court costs of carrying out death sentences, the difficulty of administering lethal injections and whether persons of color are more likely to receive such sentences.
The death penalty still has broad support among those in law enforcement.
The last time an individual was executed in Delaware was in 2011.
