WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A murder suspect whose case led to Delaware’s death penalty being overturned by the state Supreme Court is facing sentencing after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Twenty-nine-year-old Benjamin Rauf of Westerlo, New York, was to be sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty earlier this month to manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He faces between five and 50 years in prison.
Rauf was charged in the 2015 drug-related killing of Shazim Uppal of Hockessin, a fellow Temple University law school graduate.
Prosecutors had planned to seek the death penalty against Rauf. A judge put the case on hold and sought a state Supreme Court opinion on Delaware’s death penalty after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding Florida’s death penalty statute, which was similar to Delaware’s.
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