---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO OFFENSES AGAINST THE PERSON."
description: "This bill changes the definition of and class of felony for the crime of Strangulation from a class C felony to a Class D felony unless additional factors are present, then the crime elevates to a class B felony, punishable from 2-25 years in jail. This bill also adds the crime of suffocation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "151"
identifier: "HB 440"
citation: "Delaware HB 440 (151)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Krista Griffith", "Sherry Dorsey Walker", "Stephanie L. Hansen", "William Bush"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 9
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2022-06-02"
last_action: "2022-08-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1a2453cd-cdd4-4620-a3ba-f8c64c4c57ca"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=109579"
source_hash: "89f3319c4330f856d33365a9a522d2d2f6ce2f539177ba156986fc6597e6a7c5"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware HB 440 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO OFFENSES AGAINST THE PERSON.

This bill changes the definition of and class of felony for the crime of Strangulation from a class C felony to a Class D felony unless additional factors are present, then the crime elevates to a class B felony, punishable from 2-25 years in jail. This bill also adds the crime of suffocation.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=109579&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB440)
2. **HA 1 to HB 440** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=129796&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- SM — **17–2** (pass) · upper
- SM — **41–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Krista Griffith — primary (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — primary (person)
- William Bush — primary (person)
- Brian Pettyjohn — cosponsor (person)
- Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
- Franklin D. Cooke — cosponsor (person)
- Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)
- Nicole Poore — cosponsor (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2022-06-02** Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-08** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 4 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits, 1 Unfavorable `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage-unfavorable`
- **2022-06-21** Amendment HA 1 to HB 440 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2022-06-21** Amendment HA 1 to HB 440 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2022-06-21** Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES `passage`
- **2022-06-21** Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-29** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2022-07-01** Passed By Senate. Votes: 17 YES 2 NO 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2022-08-04** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1a2453cd-cdd4-4620-a3ba-f8c64c4c57ca`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).