The measure passed by a vote of 11-10, with five Democrats and five Republicans voting against it. Three Republicans sided with majority Democrats in voting for the bill after a lengthy and sometimes emotional debate.
The measure, opposed by Attorney General Beau Biden and several leaders of the law enforcement community, now goes to the state House for consideration. Democratic Gov. Jack Markell has refused to say whether he favors the legislation.
Supporters of the bill argue that the death penalty is morally wrong, racially discriminatory, ineffective as a deterrent to violent crime and far more costly than sentencing killers to life in prison without parole.
"I just believe that you don't teach people that killing is bad by killing them," Sen. Karen Peterson, chief sponsor of the bill, said after the vote.
"It is homicide, and it is wrong," Peterson, D-Stanton, said just before the vote, making a Holy Week reference to Jesus' crucifixion. "We can either do what Pontius Pilate did and wash our hands and say we take no responsibility for their deaths, or we can put an end to it in Delaware."
Peterson said her decision to remove the provision sparing the lives of current death row inmates was not an effort to ensure Senate passage of the bill. She instead said she wanted to remove confusion that might lead to arguments over the constitutionality of that provision.
"Del. Senate OKs repeal of death penalty," is the Wilmington News Journal coverage written by Doug Denison, via Delmarva Now.
The Senate approved with a narrow 11-10 vote Tuesday a bill repealing Delaware’s death penalty after deciding that the 17 inmates now on death row should still face the ultimate punishment.The vote came after a lengthy, impassioned debate about the merits of capital punishment, including pleas from relatives of slain victims who said death is the only just sentence for the crimes that rocked their families.
The bill now goes to the House. Five Senate Democrats and five Republicans voted to preserve the death sentence. Two Republicans, Minority Leader F. Gary Simpson and Lewes Sen. Ernie Lopez, voted for repeal.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Karen Peterson, eliminates the death penalty from Delaware’s criminal code, making life in prison without the possibility of probation or parole the maximum penalty for the crime of first-degree murder.
Peterson said she knew the measure would pass by one vote, but the roll call was in flux in recent weeks.
“From day to day, the head count would change,” said Peterson, D-Newark. “There was a core from the very beginning of 10 people, and the 11th changed from time to time. We knew from the beginning that the count would be 11.”
After weeks of remaining mostly silent on the issue, Attorney General Beau Biden sent two of his top criminal prosecutors to the Senate to declare his opposition to repeal.
And:
Debate on the Senate floor began Tuesday with an amendment to preserve the sentences of 17 men now on death row in the state. That amendment passed with the support of 18 senators.
In its original form, the bill would have commuted the sentences of the state’s death-row inmates to life in prison. But Peterson attached the amendment to the bill shortly after bringing it to the Senate floor that removed all mention of current capital offenders.
The Cape Gazette reports, "Death penalty repeal approved by Senate," by Kara Nuzback.
Delaware is on its way to joining the list of states who have outlawed capital punishment.And:After more than two hours of testimony, senators voted 11-10 to approve Senate Bill 19, which would outlaw the death penalty in Delaware, March 26.
SB 19, which had seven sponsors in the Senate, now moves to the House, where it has an additional 12 bipartisan sponsors.
Earlier coverage of the Delaware repeal legislation begins at the link.
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