DOVER, Del. (AP) - A bill to abolish Delaware's death penalty has failed to clear a House committee after winning narrow passage in the Senate last month.
After a two-and-a-half hour hearing Wednesday, members of the House Judiciary Committee voted 6-to-5 not to send the bill to the full House.
Supporters of the bill argued that the death penalty is racially unfair, costly, morally wrong, and ineffective as a deterrent to crime. Opponents argued that capital punishment is justified as a form of punishment for first-degree murder.
The chief House sponsor of the bill conceded in advance that it probably would not clear the committee, and that he plans to take the politically risky option of trying to suspend rules and bring the bill straight to the floor, perhaps as early as Thursday.
