Today, Delaware effectively became the 19th state to ban capital punishment, after the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in Rauf v. State that the state's death penalty statute is unconstitutional.
The 148-page ruling comes after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hurst v. Florida earlier this year, which stated that a jury, rather than a judge, must determine whether or not a defendant gets a death sentence.
While the statute could be rewritten to comport with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling, its unlikely that the Delaware General Assembly will decide to do so. The state has repeatedly come close to overruling the death penalty, and just last year the Delaware Senate passed a bill that would get rid of the death penalty and replace it with life without parole. It was the second time in three years that the state Senate passed such a bill and had support from the governor. However, the bill narrowly failed in the House.
But even though the state was unable to pass the bill outlawing the death penalty, it is even more unlikely that they will have the political momentum to pass a bill reinstating the punishment. The chance of the General Assembly passing a bill amending the statute to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court and therefore reinstate the punishment is slim to none. .
In the meantime, there are 14 people currently on death row in the state, whose futures have been in limbo as the court ruled on the constitutionality. Today's critical decision makes it highly unlikely that they will be put to death by the state.