Anti death penalty advocates kicked off their latest repeal campaign in earnest at Legislative Hall Wednesday.
About 30 people showed up to a press conference held in the Senate chamber to officially announce the bill, which would repeal Delaware’s death penalty, but not retroactively to those already on death row.That was something Sen. Karen Peterson (D-Stanton), the bill’s prime sponsor, included in her original proposal two years ago, but she had to amend it out to get it out of the senate by a slim, one-vote margin.
Peterson spoke to the cost of going through the process of executing an inmate, noting that it costs less to just keep them in prison for life than undergoing the appeals process through the courts.
“Delaware is currently spending upwards of $3 million a year on death penalty cases," said Peterson. "If we execute one person every other year, that’s more than $6 million per execution. We’re not being tough on crime, we’re being tough on taxpayers.”
Several clergy members also spoke, noting that it’s not up to men and women to sentence anyone to death and that ultimate judgment is up to God.
The bill’s supporters cross party lines, with Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson (R-Milford) also leading the charge.
He noted that he won a statewide public speaking contest as a teenager by calling for the repeal of Delaware’s death penalty.
Simpson also cited moral reasons for his opposition to state-sanctioned executions.
“But we know now after 20 years of looking at this statistic that many innocent people, while some have been exonerated and set free, some have been killed and my bible tells me in the Old Testament that thou shalt not kill,” said Simpson.
After getting out of the senate two years ago, Peterson’s bill languished in the House, banished to a desk drawer in committee.
Advocates brought in exonerated death row inmates from other states and even former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to try and sway the hearts of state lawmakers, none of which worked.
The initiative still faces fierce opposition from law enforcement, who have called for an amendment allowing the death penalty for those convicted of killing police or corrections officers.
Peterson rejected that amendment in past interviews with Delaware Public Media.
Former Rep. Darryl Scott tried to revive the bill from the House Judiciary Committee towards the end of last year’s session, but failed to gain enough support.
This new bill will start again in the Senate.
