Governor vetoes bill that would have abolished death penalty in Connecticut

As expected, Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed the legislative bill that would have abolished the death penalty in the state. A firm advocate of capital punishment, she had announced that she would veto the bill “as soon as it hits my desk� (which it did on Friday, June 5).

This is the first time that the General Assembly has approved a plan to end capital punishment in the state. The House approved the bill 90 to 56. In the Senate, the vote was 19-17.

Three Democractic state senators are credited with swinging the vote: Andrea Stillman, Edith Prague and Gary LeBeau.

Also instrumental was Sen. Andrew Roraback (R-30), who was the only Republican to support the bill. Roraback, who represents the largely liberal Northwest Corner, has consistently opposed the death penalty. For him, it’s not an issue that falls along party lines.

“While it’s true that I was the only Republican in the Senate to vote to abolish the death penalty, there were several Republicans in the House who also did so,� he said in an interview with The Journal. “Republicans are victims of crime, Democrats are victims of crime, and unaffiliated voters are victims of crime, just as Republicans commit crimes, Democrats commit crimes and unaffiliated voters commit crimes.�

His opposition to the death penalty is largely moral, “an issue of conscience.�

“If imposing the death penalty would bring back the victims of crime, I would probably look at it much differently,� he said. “But in all my years in Hartford, I’ve been consistent. Because I view a vote on this issue as being tantamount to pulling the switch to kill another human being, I can’t in good conscience vote to keep the death penalty.�

Ten men on death row

Connecticut has 10 death row inmates but has only executed one prisoner since 1960. Serial killer and rapist Michael Ross, who had been on death row for 17 years, was put to death by lethal injection in 2005 but only after a protracted court battle. His public defenders claimed that Ross, who had attempted suicide three times while on death row, was not mentally competent to request his own demise. Death row inmates have many levels of appeals that they can make before an execution (see related story, this page). Quinnipiac University law professor Linda Meyer estimates that the state pays $4 million a year on  litigating death penalty cases and providing extra security for death row facilities, partly to ensure inmates do not kill themselves.

“Even those who favor the death penalty have to admit that for all practical purposes, Connecticut’s death penalty statute has not worked for a very long time,� Roraback said. “And when Michael Ross pleaded to be executed, it took heroic measures for his wishes to be complied with.�

The 10 death row inmates in Connecticut are all men. They are held at the Northern Correctional Institute in Sommers, which currently has a total inmate population of 451 men. The 10 men awaiting execution by lethal injection are: Lazale Ashby, 24, convicted of raping and murdering his 21-year-old neighbor in 2002; Jessie Campbell III, 29, convicted in the shooting deaths in 2000 of three women; Robert Breton, 62, convicted in the 1987 beating and stabbing deaths of his 38-year-old ex-wife and their 16-year-old son; Sedrick “Rickyâ€� Cobb, 47, was convicted in the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in 1989; Robert Courchesne, 51, convicted in the 1998 stabbing death of a woman who was eight months pregnant; Russell Peeler Jr., 37, convicted of ordering the 1999 killing of an 18-year-old boy and his mother (the boy was a witness to the shooting death of his mother’s boyfriend by Peeler, and he was about to testify against him in court); Richard Reynolds, 40, was convicted of killing a police officer in 1992; Daniel Webb, 46, was convicted of the 1999 kidnapping and murder of a 37-year-old woman who was a vice president at Connecticut National Bank; Eduardo Santiago, 29, was convicted of the  murder-for-hire killing of a 45-year-old man in 2000; Todd Rizzo, 30, was convicted of killing a 13-year-old boy by hitting him on the head repeatedly with a 3-pound sledgehammer in 1997.

A punishment for ‘heinous’ crimes

Although Connecticut rarely follows through with the execution of death row inmates, Gov. Rell said in a statement that she wants to preserve the punishment because “there are certain crimes so heinous — so fundamentally revolting to our humanity — that the death penalty is warranted.�

A Quinnipiac University poll taken in May 2009 showed that 61 percent of voters in this state are in favor of keeping the death penalty and 34 percent would like to see it abolished and replaced with a life sentence in prison.

“Gov. Jodi Rell has said that she intends to veto the bill to abolish the death penalty and public opinion is on her side,� said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, PhD., in May.

Veto expected to hold

The veto will hold, for now at least.

“You would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override the veto,� Roraback said, and that majority does not exist.

“There aren’t enough votes to overturn it,� state Rep. Roberta Willis (D-64) agreed. “We have 90 votes in the House and we would need 101 for a two-thirds majority.�

The vote in the Senate was, obviously, even closer.

Nonetheless, Willis called the success of the vote “historic� because of the large margin in, at least, the House.

When the bill is brought back onto the floor, probably in the 2011 “long� session of the General Assembly, she said she suspects that there might even be more votes in favor of abolishing the death penalty.

“Clearly, attitudes have moved,� she said. “And I think a lot of the new legislators are coming in with a new position. Most of the freshmen in the House voted for abolition.�

 

Latest News

Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less