Press Release – March 18, 2015
For immediate release
Contacts: Sen. Karen Peterson (302) 999-7522;
Jesse Chadderdon (302) 744-4282 or (302) 743-0945
Bill to repeal Delaware’s death penalty introduced
DOVER – Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, introduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would
repeal Delaware’s death penalty and replace it with life without parole. Sen. Gary Simpson, R-Milford,
and Rep. Sean Lynn, D-Dover, are also prime sponsors of the bill.
Senate Bill 40 mirrors a 2013 bill Sen. Peterson sponsored, which passed in the Senate 11-10, but did not
get a vote in the House of Representatives.
The legislation would end capital punishment in Delaware, with the exception of the 15 inmates already
convicted and sentenced to death row.
If passed, Delaware would become the 19th state without the death penalty. Neighboring Maryland is
the most recent state to ban the practice in 2013 and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared a
moratorium on the death penalty shortly after taking office in January. Six states have abolished their
death penalty statutes in the past eight years alone.
Across the nation, there is documentation of inmates being executed for a crime, only to be exonerated
posthumously by new evidence. Since 1973, 150 death row inmates have been exonerated and released
from prison.
“I have great respect for our justice system and the people who make it work, but the fact is mistakes
can happen, and I don’t believe the people of Delaware should have a hand in making an irreversible
mistake that costs a person his or her life,” Peterson said.
“There’s also no evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent and I believe strongly that life in prison
without parole serves the purpose of protecting society from violent criminals,” Peterson said. “It
protects victims’ families and gives them the peace of mind to know that the person responsible for
killing their loved ones will never again see the light of day.”
National data also show that eliminating the death penalty will save taxpayer money. In fact, because of
requirements for two trials, special prosecutors, expert testimony and constitutionally required appeals
that can last decades, capital murder trials cost an average of 10 times more than a murder trial where
the death penalty is not being sought. According to the Office of the Public Defender for the State of
Delaware, that office alone would save as much as $4 million per year if the death penalty were
repealed. Additional savings would accrue to the Attorney General’s Office, the court system and the
Department of Corrections.
Ti Hall, campaign manager for the Delaware Repeal Project, said those appeals can also delay justice for
victims’ families.
“There are so many problems with the broken death penalty system, but perhaps the worst is that it
traps victims’ families in endless years of uncertainty and court hearings,” Hall said. “A sentence of life
without parole is swift and certain punishment. It allows families who have lost a loved one to murder to
grieve and heal, rather than endure years of waiting for an execution that may never come. Replacing
the death penalty with life without parole would also free up millions of dollars that could be used to
actually help families by providing grief counseling, scholarships for children who have lost a parent, and
other much-needed services.”
Rep. Lynn said ending the death penalty represents an important step toward social justice in Delaware.
“The General Assembly has tackled huge civil rights policies in the last few years that would have been
impossible a decade ago, and now it’s time for us to take on one of the last great impediments to justice
and equal rights in our state,” said Lynn, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and a practicing
attorney in Dover. “We know we have a significant racial disparity on our death row; we know our
criminal justice system has made mistakes and will make them again; and we know that we can no
longer obtain the drugs necessary to ensure our executions are humane and constitutional. In light of
these facts, I can see no choice but to repeal capital punishment in Delaware.”
Simpson said the risk of wrongly executing someone means capital punishment must end in Delaware.
“I’m confident that prosecutors throughout the nation believe they’ve convicted the right person sitting
on death row, but we now know, without a doubt, that innocent people have been convicted and put to
death for crimes they did not commit,” Simpson said. “So, until we can guarantee with 100 percent
accuracy that all of the people who are sentenced to death are guilty, I must support abolishing the
death penalty.”
Additional sponsors of Senate Bill 40 are: Sen. Brian Bushweller, D-Dover; Sen. Catherine Cloutier, RHeatherbrooke; Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington East; Sen. Harris McDowell III, D-Wilmington
North; Sen. David Sokola, D-Newark; Sen. Bryan Townsend, D-Newark; Rep. Michael Barbieri, D-Newark;
Rep. Paul Baumbach, D-Newark; Rep. Stephanie Bolden, D-Wilmington East; Rep. Gerald Brady, DWilmington West; Rep. Debra Heffernan, D-Bellefonte; Rep. James “J.J.” Johnson, D-New Castle; Rep.
Helene Keeley, D-Wilmington South; Rep. John Kowalko, D-Newark South; Rep. Sean Matthews, DBrandywine Hundred; Rep. Joseph Miro, R-Pike Creek Valley; Rep. Charles Potter, D-Wilmington North;
Rep. Michael Ramone, R-Middle Run Valley; Rep. Bryon Short, D-Brandywine Hundred; Rep. Melanie
George Smith, D-Bear; Rep. Kim Williams, D-Milltown.
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