USA - Delaware. The House Judiciary Committee failed to release Senate Bill 40 that would have repealed the death penalty.

By a vote of 6 to 5, the House Judiciary Committee failed to release Senate Bill 40 that would have repealed the death penalty. The 11-member committee is made up of 7 Democrats and 4 Republicans. After a 2 1/2 hour hearing, members of the Committee voted not to send the bill to the full House. By an 11-9 vote, Senate Bill 40 was voted through the state Senate, April 2. The legislation would have ended capital punishment in Delaware, except for the 15 inmates already convicted and sentenced to death row. If passed, Delaware would become the 19th state without the death penalty. The chief House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Sean Lynn, D, conceded in advance that it probably would not clear the committee, and that she 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.