The Delaware Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday the state’s death penalty law is unconstitutional because judges can independently impose a death sentence, even if a jury decides otherwise in a case. The 3-to-2 ruling found the current law violates the 6th Amendment, which entitles defendants to a jury trial, and means the death penalty is suspended in the state until the legislature can pass new sentencing legislation.
“Under the Delaware law, judges weren’t bound by jury recommendations in death-penalty cases, and they could weigh factors for and against capital punishment, independent of jury findings,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “The majority ruled that a jury—not a judge—must decide unanimously and beyond reasonable doubt that facts in favor of a death sentence outweigh facts that counsel against.”
The Delaware court heard the case after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Florida 8-to-1 in Hurst v. Florida earlier this year. A judge in a death penalty case asked the state’s top court to rule to clarify whether the Delaware law was valid following Hurst. Alabama is now the only remaining state where a state court judge can impose the death penalty.
