Attorney General Matt Denn (D) says he won’t appeal a state Supreme Court decision invalidating Delaware’s death penalty.
Denn says he will not ask the U.S Supreme Court to review the Delaware high court’s opinion that the state’s death penalty statute violates the U.S. Constitution.
In a press release, Denn says even if the decision was overturned, it’s likely the state Supreme Court would invalidate the program based on the state’s constitution.
He also signaled that the state Department of Justice would fight any effort to overturn past sentences of the 13 men currently on death row.
Earlier this month, three of the five Delaware Supreme Court Justices agreed that the ultimate decision to hand down a death sentence should be left to a jury and not with a judge.
That order came after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida’s capital punishment statute in January, which was similar to Delaware’s.
