DOVER, Del. (AP) - The Delaware state Senate has approved a bill revising punishments for habitual criminal offenders.
The legislation eliminates mandatory life sentences for habitual offenders and distinguishes between violent felonies and all other felonies in sentencing habitual criminals.
Under the measure, a person is declared a habitual criminal after being convicted of a third violent felony or a fourth felony of any kind.
If a person has three felony convictions and is then convicted of a violent felony, the minimum sentence would equal half the maximum allowed for the final conviction.
But if one of the three prior felonies is a violent one, or if a person is convicted of a third violent felony, the minimum sentence would equal the maximum allowed for the final conviction.
