WASHINGTON — Delaware's death penalty law is unconstitutional in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from earlier this year addressing the role of the jury in handing down death sentences, the state's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.
The decision expresses "the majority‘s collective view that Delaware‘s current death penalty statute violates the Sixth Amendment role of the jury as set forth in Hurst [v. Florida]" — the January U.S. Supreme Court decision addressing the jury's essential role in the sentencing phase of a death penalty trial.
Specifically, the Delaware court found the statute to be unconstitutional because a judge, independent of the jury, can find "the existence of 'any aggravating circumstance'" that would be required to impose a death sentence.
Additionally, the state court found the statute to be unconstitutional because it does not require juror unanimity in finding such aggravating circumstances and does not require the jury to find that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances presented. The court found that such a determination about the weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, similarly, must be made unanimously.
Delaware most recently held an execution in 2012, and 18 people currently are on death row in the state. In the modern death penalty era, since 1976, Delaware has held 16 executions.
The head of Delaware's superior court had put new death penalty prosecutions on hold in February while it considered the effect of the Hurst ruling on the death penalty in the state.
This is a developing story. Please check back to BuzzFeed News for more.
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