Connecticut's Religious Leaders Say End the Death Penalty

Dozens of Religious Leaders Rally in Hartford to Advocate the Abolition of Connecticut's Capital Punishment Law

Calling it the just and moral thing to do, dozens of religious leaders from the state’s Christian and Jewish communities gathered at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford Tuesday to petition the General Assembly to repeal Connecticut’s death penalty law.

“There are times where sometimes we have theological debates about things in which we disagree, however when it comes to the death penalty this is one item that members of major denominations agree, there is consensus that the death penalty should be abolished,” said State Rep. Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk, who also serves as a minister and emceed Tuesday’s proceedings.

The religious leaders presented Morris and State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, with a letter signed by more than 300 clergy supporting passage of House Bill 5036, a bill introduced by Holder-Winfield that would abolish Connecticut’s death penalty. Speakers advocated replacing the state’s capital punishment law with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release for the state’s most violent convicted murderers.

“As people of faith, we reaffirm our opposition to the death penalty and belief in the sacredness of human life,” the letter stated. “We urge you, our elected officials, to examine the reality of Connecticut’s death penalty and seek ways to achieve true healing for those who suffer because of violent crime. Please support repeal of the death penalty. It is time for Connecticut to move beyond this broken and harmful system.”

Speakers argued that the death penalty was an “ineffective, unfair and fallible” response to violent crimes.

“The death penalty applies disproportionately to the poor and minorities and puts innocent lives at risk of execution,” Morris said. “Since 1973, 138 individuals sentenced to death were later exonerated of their crimes. When a human life is at stake, there’s simply no room for error.”

James Curry, a Bishop from the Episcopal Church, said that he has spoken to the victims of many families who feel that the death penalty only adds to their pain and suffering, because of lengthy trials and appeals and the notoriety associated with the cases.

“By abolishing the death penalty, we in Connecticut have an opportunity to affirm and respect our dignity as a society,” Curry said. “…Life imprisonment without possibility of release is a punishment that can respect the needs of a victim’s family for closure in the legal process, it can respect their needs for justice, and it can respect the memory of all their loved ones.”

Peter Rosazza, a Bishop from the Connecticut Catholic Conference, said that the Catholic Church opposes the death penalty because it violates the sanctity of life.

“Human life is a gift from god that must be respected from conception to natural death,” Rosazza said. “Our profound respect for human life also explains why we are opposed to any attack against human life, including abortion and euthanasia.”

Rosazza noted that Connecticut was the last state in New England to abolish slavery, adding “we hope it is not the last state to abolish the death penalty.”

Rabbi Donna Berman said that the death penalty went against the Jewish tradition and was not an effective deterrent.

“Even in ancient times there were those who felt that capital punishment was a deterrent to crime, but they represented the minority opinion,” Berman said. “In our own day, studies show that capital punishment is in fact not a deterrent. The truth is we can deter crime and protect society just as effectively, more effectively, with life imprisonment without the possibility of release. In this way we can avoid the very real risk of taking an innocent life.”

The death penalty has always been a hot button issue in Connecticut, but has risen in prominence the past several years due to a brutal 2007 Cheshire home invasion. Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were sexually assaulted and murdered in their home after a failed robbery attempt. One man, Steven Hayes, 47, was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to death, while another, Joshua Komisarjevsky, is currently on trial for the crime. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Komisarjevsky.

Both houses of the legislature approved a bill to veto the death penalty in 2009, but then governor vetoed the bill, citing the Cheshire home invasion.

Holder-Winfield said he expected the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee to vote on the current bill within a week. He said he expected the bill to pass, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to sign it into law.

“The work that I’m doing on the death penalty comes out of both my religious faith and my sense for justice,” Holder-Winfield said.

During his campaign, Malloy, a former federal prosecutor, repeatedly stated he was opposed to the death penalty.

In the most recent Quinnipiac University Poll on the subject, released March 10, 67 percent of Connecticut residents said they supported the death penalty, compared to 28 percent who said they opposed it.

The event was originally intended to be held on the steps of the state capitol, but was moved indoors because of the weather.

Source: Montville Patch, April 6, 2011

_________________________

Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.

Oklahoma City victim's dad speaks against death penalty

Bud Welch found that he had a lot in common with the father of the man executed for killing 168 people -- including Welch's daughter Julie -- in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. "We both buried our children, in different ways and at different times, but from the same event," he said during a program here Tuesday night.

Julie Welch was 23, working as a Spanish interpreter in the Social Security Administration the morning that a bomb leveled the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. She had just met a client in the lobby and was leading him into the office when the blast occurred, shortly after 9 a.m. on April 19, 1995. She was planning to have lunch with her father in a little Greek restaurant across the street later that day.

"That was a Wednesday; they found her body on Saturday," Welch said. "I found out later that she and her boyfriend had been talking about getting engaged. Timothy McVeigh was convicted more than two years later and was ultimately executed, but nothing about that gave me any peace."

A board member of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, Welch spoke to about 25 people in the St. Gabriel Church Hall. He talked about driving Julie to Marquette University for her freshman year, and inadvertently embarrassing her by taking his daughter's teddy bear out of the car in front of her dorm. He described his daughter's gift for learning languages, her two semesters studying abroad and her determination to win scholarships to help pay for college. But Julie was a real person who also had her flaws, Welch said.

"I'm not going to tell you about those tonight," the retired service station owner said. But he shared one other memory: his daughter had opposed the 1991 Gulf War -- the war that McVeigh and co-defendant Terry Nichols returned from with post-traumatic stress syndrome. A devout Catholic, Julie also opposed the death penalty, her dad said, "because she said it was teaching children to hate."

And so, before the trial, Welch met with Bill and Jennifer McVeigh, Tim's father and sister, in their Buffalo home and promised to do whatever he could to keep Timothy from getting the death penalty.

"When I said that, I felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted from me," Welch said. "I never felt closer to God, and I'd met an even bigger victim of the Oklahoma City bombing. Every time I talk about Julie I keep her memory alive, but because of what happened Bill McVeigh was never able to say anything positive about his son."

Among the attendees Tuesday night was Joseph Benefico, a retired Milford police sargeant. His long career in law enforcement has left him with decidely mixed views on capital punishment, Benefico said. "On one hand there's the chance that the wrong person could be executed. There have been 138 people cleared by DNA evidence who were on death row. But then, with the Cheshire home invasion, it's really hard to oppose it in that case."

Connecticut appears close once again to abolishing the death penalty, said Bo Chamberlin, field organizer for the state network working for its repeal. A bill in the Judiciary Committee is likely to be approved next week and presented to the House and Senate for a full vote, and Gov. Dannel P Malloy has promised to sign it, Chamberlin said. Then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a similar measure in 2009.

Source: Connecticut Post, April 6, 2011

_________________________

Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.

Murder victim families urge death penalty repeal

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The latest call to abolish Connecticut's death penalty is coming from the families of some murder victims.

A letter signed by 60 people who have had loved ones killed will be presented to the Legislature on Wednesday by the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty.

The letter states that those who have dealt with the criminal justice system and struggled with the grief of having a loved one murdered have concluded the death penalty only inflicts more pain on survivors.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy, a former prosecutor, has said he is morally opposed to the death penalty. But he's facing a state budget deficit that's projected to top $3 billion and says repealing the death penalty is not an immediate priority.

Source: NECN, February 5, 2011

_________________________

Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.

Connecticut: Hayes' Execution Many Years Away; Appeals could take more than 20 years

In about 3 months, appellate lawyers for convicted triple-murderer Steven Hayes will file an appeal of Hayes' death sentence to the state Supreme Court.

A ruling will take 4 to 5 years.

After that, barring a reversal by the court, the process settles in for the long haul — a progression of state habeas corpus motions and federal appeals that can raise issues ranging from purported mistakes by the trial lawyers or judge to claims that the death penalty is arbitrary and influenced by the race and economic status of the victim.

Even though Hayes told Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue on Thursday that he views death as a "welcome relief,'' it could easily be 20 years or longer before Hayes is wheeled into the execution chamber at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers and given a lethal injection.

2 of the 9 inmates currently on Connecticut's death row — convicted killers Robert Breton and Sedrick "Ricky" Cobb — were sentenced to death in 1989 and 1991, respectively, and have yet to exhaust their appeals and federal habeas motions.

Serial killer Michael Ross spent 18 years on death row before he was executed at his own insistence in 2005.

In Connecticut, the initial appeal to the state Supreme Court is automatic and mandatory.

The court must uphold the sentence unless it finds it was the product of passion or prejudice or the evidence fails to support the finding of an aggravating factor.

If the inmate loses there, "the process, in a real sense, starts all over again with the habeas phase,'' said Senior Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher, who is handling the appeals of several inmates on death row.

State habeas actions often involve claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Rademacher noted that Hayes was represented by 2 of the most experienced public defenders in Connecticut, Thomas Ullmann, who directs the New Haven office, and Patrick Culligan, who specializes in capital cases.

"But everyone makes mistakes,'' said Rademacher. "A mistake is not a scarlet letter. What happened on 1 day in court during the trial, I have the luxury of taking 3 days to think about it for the appeal.''

Hayes, 47, enters death row at a time when his fellow inmates are challenging the death penalty in Connecticut on racial grounds. The contention, said Rademacher, is that the race of the victim improperly influences whether a defendant is sentenced to death. Hayes and his accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky, are already included in the racial disparity case.

A victory in the race case would mean the end of the death penalty in Connecticut and the conversion of death sentences to life without the possibility of release, Rademacher said. A loss would mean that the inmates would have to pursue their claims individually, which could take years. Hayes was convicted of attacking and killing three members of Dr. William Petit Jr.'s family — his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. Petit, severely beaten, was the sole survivor of the home-invasion robbery, kidnapping, sexual assault and arson. Komisarjevsky is scheduled for trial next year.

Source: Connecticut Now, December 3, 2010