US state court bars execution of 11 death row inmates

[webfact]

US state court bars execution of 11 death row inmates
PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — Three years after Connecticut abolished the death penalty for any future crimes, the state's highest court on Thursday spared the lives of the state's 11 remaining death-row inmates saying it would be unconstitutional to execute them.

Within minutes, a lawyer with the Chief Public Defender's office said he was getting on the phone with his office's clients to share the news.

"There will be no more death row," said Michael Courtney, the leader of the office's capital defense unit.

The ruling comes in an appeal from a 12th inmate, Eduardo Santiago, whose attorneys had argued that any execution carried out after the 2012 repeal would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Santiago, whose first sentence was overturned, faced a second penalty hearing and the possibility of lethal injection for a 2000 murder-for-hire killing in West Hartford.

The Connecticut Supreme Court, in a sharply divided 4-3 ruling, agreed with his position, ruling that the death penalty "no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency and no longer serves any legitimate penological purpose."

"For these reasons, execution of those offenders who committed capital felonies prior to April 25, 2012, would violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment," Justice Richard Palmer wrote for the majority.

Those inmates include Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, who were sentenced to die for killing a mother and her two daughters in a highly publicized 2007 home invasion in Cheshire.

The 2012 repeal, which set life in prison without the possibility of release as the punishment for crimes formerly considered capital offenses, was passed prospectively by lawmakers amid public outrage over the prospect that Komisarjevsky and Hayes might be spared execution.

In his ruling, Palmer wrote that it would not be permissible to execute other convicts "merely to achieve the politically popular end of killing two especially notorious inmates."

Connecticut has had just one execution since 1960. Serial killer Michael Ross was put to death in 2005 after winning a legal fight to end his appeals.

Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy issued a statement Thursday saying those who have been on death row will spend the rest of their lives in state prisons with no possibility of freedom.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-08-14

[Seastallion]

I see another legal challenge;

These 11 were sentenced to death. Their incarceration was pending their deaths and not a sentence in of itself. The death penalty no longer exists in the state. Thus their current incarceration is redundant. They can't have another trial just to change the sentence because of double jeopardy.

[sdanielmcev]

I see another legal challenge;

These 11 were sentenced to death. Their incarceration was pending their deaths and not a sentence in of itself. The death penalty no longer exists in the state. Thus their current incarceration is redundant. They can't have another trial just to change the sentence because of double jeopardy.

They won't be retried because they were already found guilty. The punishment phase is separate from the guilt/innocence phase for just that reasoning. Also, most capital murder convictions contain a provision whereby if execution is cancelled, not available, the governor can commute the sentence to life or appropriate. That help?

[oneday]

I see another legal challenge;

These 11 were sentenced to death. Their incarceration was pending their deaths and not a sentence in of itself. The death penalty no longer exists in the state. Thus their current incarceration is redundant. They can't have another trial just to change the sentence because of double jeopardy.

Read the article again.

"...The 2012 repeal, which set life in prison without the possibility of release as the punishment for crimes formerly considered capital offenses, was passed prospectively by lawmakers amid public outrage over the prospect that Komisarjevsky and Hayes might be spared execution..."

[Seastallion]

Ok. I'm the last person to know anything of US law.

[a99az]

I see another legal challenge;

These 11 were sentenced to death. Their incarceration was pending their deaths and not a sentence in of itself. The death penalty no longer exists in the state. Thus their current incarceration is redundant. They can't have another trial just to change the sentence because of double jeopardy.

Then nothing has changed they are pending death "old age".

[arjunadawn]

Ok. I'm the last person to know anything of US law.

Me too. I agreed with you before reading others took us to school on this!

[nottocus]

I support the death penalty.

[connda]

I support the death penalty.

That must make the Indonesians feel better. They were starting to feel real alone there for awhile. Whew!!! "One more on our side." Now, who's up next as a drug smuggling bullet catcher?

[samran]

Ok. I'm the last person to know anything of US law.

Me too. I agreed with you before reading others took us to school on this!

Agreement. Quick, buy a lotto ticket, the both of you!

[elgordo38]

I see another legal challenge;

These 11 were sentenced to death. Their incarceration was pending their deaths and not a sentence in of itself. The death penalty no longer exists in the state. Thus their current incarceration is redundant. They can't have another trial just to change the sentence because of double jeopardy.

They won't be retried because they were already found guilty. The punishment phase is separate from the guilt/innocence phase for just that reasoning. Also, most capital murder convictions contain a provision whereby if execution is cancelled, not available, the governor can commute the sentence to life or appropriate. That help?

Sure does not not help the taxpayer you know the honest hard working guy that must pay to keep these maniacs behind bars for the next 50 years. What a shambles. Forget the millions it cost to try these poor excuses for a human being.