DOVER, Del. (AP) - The state Senate has passed two competing bills that would create the new crime of home invasion in Delaware.
Lawmakers unanimously passed a measure sponsored by Senate Republicans that carries a 10-year minimum sentence for unlawfully entering an occupied home and robbing, assaulting, killing or kidnapping someone while in possession of a deadly weapon.
A bill sponsored by House Democrats creates a similar crime but with a minimum sentence of 6 years, which opponents said was not strict enough.
Unlike the Senate bill, the House bill does not require that an offender possess a deadly weapon when entering the home or trying to flee, only that he or she physically injures someone during a home invasion.
Both bills now go to the House.
