DOVER, Del. (AP) - A bill repealing Delaware's death penalty has been revised to remove a provision that would spare the lives of 17 killers already on death row.
Senators overwhelmingly approved an amendment striking the provision just before beginning debate Tuesday on the bill itself.
Supporters of the bill argue that the death penalty is morally wrong, racially discriminatory, ineffective as a deterrent to violent crime and far more costly than putting killers in prison for life. They also point to cases in other states where condemned killers have later been exonerated.
The Delaware Police Chiefs' Council is opposing the bill.
Attorney General Beau Biden has said only that he believes capital punishment is appropriate in some cases, and Gov. Jack Markell has refused to say whether he favors the legislation.
