Forget about a Post-Game/Pre-Game today.
The only important story is that the Delaware House of Representatives, led by ex-cop Pete Schwartzkopf, will vote on restoring Delaware’s death penalty today. It will almost certainly pass.
You will recall that it was Schwartzkopf who delayed a vote on death penalty repeal for months before his police pals convinced enough representatives to vote against it.
Which is why nobody should be surprised that he’s rushing through the so-called ‘Extreme Crimes Prevention Act’, aka restoration of the death penalty. The bill in question, HB 125 (Smyk, yet another ex-cop), was passed out of committee yesterday, and is on today’s agenda.
The reason why the General Assembly has to ‘restore’ the death penalty is because the Delaware Supreme Court struck down provisions of Delaware’s death penalty statute. The Delaware court decision came on the heels of a United States Supreme Court decision that held that provisions of Florida’s death penalty statute were unconstitutional. Since Delaware law had the same provisions, the state court determined that Delaware’s law would meet the same fate.
HB 125 restores the death penalty while eliminating those provisions that the courts held as unconstitutional.
As long as Pete Schwartzkopf is Speaker of the House, this law and order agenda will continue to take precedence over traditional Democratic priorities.
The Senate could go either way. The Blevins loss takes away a repeal vote, and we don’t yet know whether Sen. Walsh will follow in Sen. Peterson’s footsteps. Sen. Ennis is a yes for restoration. Who knows? It could end up a 10-10 tie with Bethany Hall-Long casting the deciding vote. Some leadership from Jellyfish John would be great, but here’s what Delaware’s Official Invertebrate has said so far:
In a debate during the campaign last year, Carney said he believed the court’s decision should stand and said he would “probably” veto a bill to reinstate capital punishment. He has said he would “not rule out” the death penalty in cases where a law enforcement officer is killed, but the current legislation is broader than that.
Carney has not publicly said, however, that he would veto the bill.
Leadership in inaction.
Anyway, let your legislators know that you will hold them accountable for their votes.
Just when you think that Delaware’s legislators can’t get any worse, you discover that you’re wrong. By ‘you’, I mean ‘me’. Or is it ‘I’?