Powell v. State

The defendant below-appellant Derrick Powell is appealing the Superior Court’s denial of his motion for postconviction relief.1 However, during the pendency of that appeal, Powell moved to vacate his death sentence based on the United States Supreme Court decision in Hurst v. Florida2 and this Court’s recent interpretation of that decision in Rauf v. State3 The only issue addressed in this decision is Powell’s motion to vacate his death sentence.

In Rauf, we held that, after Hurst, the capital sentencing procedures in Delaware’s death penalty statute are unconstitutional because the statute…