Delaware Supreme Court Rules State's Death Penalty Law Unconstitutional
WILMINGTON, De. (CBS) -- A big victory Tuesday for advocates against the death penalty in Delaware. The state's highest court decided that Delaware's death penalty law is unconstitutional. The decision followed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January that struck down a similar Florida law.
The first state is one of just three states, Florida and Alabama are the other two, which allow judges to override juries and sentence defendants to the death penalty.
Delaware also doesn't require juries to be unanimous when recommending a death sentence.
The state Supreme Court ruled these aspects of Delaware's law violate citizens' sixth amendment rights.
"The sixth amendment has triumphed, that you should have a jury of your peers," said Sally Milbury-Steen, who founded Delaware Citizens Opposed to the Death Penalty 24 years ago.
"Here we are," she said. "You just have to keep on hoping and working and keeping true to your beliefs."
Assistant Public Defender Santino Ceccotti successfully argued the case.
"This is where the jurisprudence is heading, and they had a chance to take a step back or take a step forward and they took a step forward," Ceccotti said.
The court also determined that Delaware's law isn't salvageable. The General Assembly would have to pass an entirely new law for the death penalty to be an option moving forward. All current cases where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty must be recharged.
Most people CBS3 spoke to in Wilmington support getting rid of the death penalty.
John Howerin, a former inmate himself, sees it differently.
"I believe the individuals that are fully guilty deserve what they get," he said. "But the individuals who are innocent should have a chance to prove themselves to get away from that death penalty."
It's not quite a done deal, the state can appeal. A spokeswoman for the State Attorney General's Office wrote in an e-mail that the Department of Justice is reviewing the decision.
Delaware Governor Jack Markell said in a statement that he applauds the court's decision and supports abolishing the death penalty. The last time the state executed a death penalty inmate was in 2012.
