Opinion ID: 2352128
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: effect of a decision of this court sitting in a panel on a certified question of law in a death penalty case

Text: As noted, the statutory aggravating circumstance under which the State seeks the death penalty, 11 Del.C. § 4209(e)(1)s., requires that the victim be a child 14 years of age or younger. This provision became effective July 14, 1994. No Delaware court has ever construed this phrase or its equivalent. Hence, it is a case of first impression. The Court is sitting in a panel on this certified question of law. It is appropriate that a panel rule on such a certified question of law prior to trial, even in a death penalty case. Under Del. Const. Art. IV, § 12, and Supreme Court Rule 4, this Court is required to sit en banc in any case in which the accused shall have been sentenced to death. Obviously, the defendant has not been convicted or sentenced to death in this case because there has been no trial. The holding of the trial awaits the answer to the certified question. We need not decide what would happen in the event of a conviction and a sentence of death based upon this statutory aggravating factor. In that event, the effect of the decision herein on the certified question will be determined by the Court en banc.