With time running out to abolish Delaware’s death penalty this legislative session, advocates of repeal are ramping up their efforts to move a bill forward that would end capital punishment in the First State.
Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson became the latest repeal advocate to visit Dover Thursday, meeting with Gov. Jack Markell (D) and state lawmakers to discuss how he reversed his position on the death penalty about five years ago, eventually signing legislation in his state to repeal capital punishment.
Past attempts to cajole resistant legislators haven’t gained traction and Richardson says he’s simply here to share his thoughts on the matter.
“I’m a former governor who had to deal with this issue in a state more conservative than yours and I just want to bring my experience to bear. I’m not here to pressure anybody. I’m not here to lecture,” said Richardson.
Activists have brought back several exonerated death row inmates and others who lobbied for the bill before it narrowly gained Senate approval last year, but the measure currently remains tabled in the House Judiciary Committee. Several members of that committee have ties to law enforcement, which adamantly opposes repeal.
Still, one of the sponsors, Newark Democratic Rep. Michael Barbieri, says lawmakers on the fence should listen to what Richardson has to say.
“I think it’s very clear from [Gov. Bill Richardson’s] remarks that the death penalty does not work. It does not as a deterrent. It does not work economically. It does not work morally. What it does do is provide us revenge and that should not be the driving force of our country,” said Barbieri.
The bill's prime sponsors haven’t ruled out turning to rarely used legislative procedures, including a suspension of House rules, to get the legislation to the full floor before it would expire June 30th.
If it does not reach the floor by then, lawmakers would have to start the legislative process all over again in 2015.