Death penalty abolitionists gather in Dover

Dover, del. – Death penalty abolitionist abolitionists from all over the state gathered in the legislative hall on Tuesday to request legislators to support the house law 35.

House Bill 35 is a change in the constitution of Delaware, in Article 1 Section 11 Five words are added, in which: “Still imposed the death penalty.”

“According to these five words, we will set our future government to regain the death penalty,” said Kevin O'Connell, chief defender of the Defense Service Office, “but we will also express an eternal truth that we all believe in Delaware and that is justice in our system of the judiciary, should be rooted in healing and not in killing.”

Delaware's death penalty has either been abolished or classified as unconstitutional in the past 70 years, only to reinstallate again.

Between 1992 and 2012, Delaware led 16 people under a law that was later classified as unconstitutional.

“We have seen again and again how people were wrongly sentenced to the death penalty of how people were actually executed, and in some cases very rarely death sentences that were overturned were given, and so we know that we have no system that is perfect that we know that we have a system that cannot guarantee innocence,” said Fleur McKendell, “Said Fleur,” “Said Fleur,” ” McKendell “,” Said Fleur McKendell “,” Said Fleur McKendell, “,” Said Fleur McKendell “,” Said Fleur McKendell “,”, “,” President of the Delaware NAACP State Conference of branches.

Lawyers said that the death penalty was not a question of criminal justice, but rather a civil rights problem.

“People with color are more killed for the same crime as a white person and it is not fairly implemented, it is not about justice, it's about revenge,” said Rev. Rita Mishoe Paige. President of the Dover District Ministry of AME -Kirchen.

The members of the clergy also said that the state should pursue a forgiving and restorative approach to the convicts.

“The call, at least for people in the church, is to recognize that God's grace in the life of a person cannot be completely completed if we take short of this life through the death penalty,” said Rev. Tom Pasmore. Peninsula of the Delaware Conference of the United Methodist Church.

“We hope that the legislators will listen to their voters in Delaware, who want to abolish the death penalty once and for all, change the constitution and make sure that we never bring the death penalty back,” said O'Connell.

HB 35 would go one step further by anchored the ban on the death penalty in the constitution of Delaware.

In 2023, the GOP legislators asked the first state to return the death penalty after the conviction of Randon Wilkerson, who brutally killed Delmar's police competence.