In a split decision, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled the state’s death penalty scheme is unconstitutional. The decision follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that said the Sixth Amendment requires a jury, and not a judge, to make all factual findings necessary to impose a death sentence.
Applying Hurst v. Florida, a majority of Delaware’s high court found that Delaware’s statute unconstitutionally allows sentencing judges to independently find the existence of aggravating circumstances and to weigh them against mitigating factors.
