Delaware’s last 2 death row inmates resentenced to life

WILMINGTON, Del. – There’s no one left on Delaware’s death row, now that its last two inmates have been resentenced to life in prison.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports 43-year-old Michael R. Manley and 43-year-old David D. Stevenson received modified sentences Tuesday in the 1995 killing of Kristopher Heath, a Macy’s security officer set to testify against Stevenson in a theft case.

Delaware’s Supreme Court found the state’s death penalty unconstitutional in August 2016, when 13 men were on death row.

That ruling came after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar Florida law that gave judges the final say on the imposition of a death sentence, instead of juries.

All of Delaware’s death sentences have now been modified.

However, a revised death penalty statute is pending in the state Senate.

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Information from: The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., http://www.delawareonline.com