Today's Hartford Courant reports, "Victims' Family Members Want Capital Punishment Repealed." It's written by Daniela Altimari.
Dozens of murder victims' families have signed a letter calling on lawmakers to repeal the state's death penalty.
"In Connecticut, the death penalty is a false promise that goes unfulfilled, leaving victims' families frustrated and angry,'' states the letter signed by 76 mothers, brothers, daughters, and in-laws of murder victims. "And as the state hangs on to this broken system, it wastes millions of dollars that could go toward much needed victims' services.''
And:
"The death penalty ensnares people in the criminal justice system where mandatory appeals, constitutional challenges and never-ending media attention result in notoriety for the murderer and years of suffering and uncertainty for the families left behind,'' said Gail Canzano, a psychologist from West Hartford whose brother-in-law was murdered in 1999. She was one of dozens of family members who attended the press conference; many of them brought framed portraits of their slain loved ones.
State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, the New Haven Democrat leading the repeal effort in the legislature, says he is confident a bill will pass this session, though the margin may be slimmer than the 90 to 56 vote in the House in favor of repeal in 2009. (That year, the Senate also voted in support of repeal, but then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed the bill.)
Changes in the make-up of the General Assembly aren't the only factor that could make it harder to pass a repeal bill. Another issue that could complicate the picture: the looming trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, one of two men accused of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in their Cheshire home. Jury selection is scheduled to begin March 14; Holder-Winfield said he expects a Judiciary Committee public hearing on the repeal bill to be held in mid-March, although not date has been set.
The victims at this morning's press conference expressed profound sympathy for Dr. William Petit, the lone survivor of the home invasion, who spoke in favor of the death penalty in the past.
"Death penalty foes make their case," is Ken Dixon's report for CT Post.
Walter Everett knows the pain that family and friends of Tim and Kim Donnelly are going through, but the death penalty, he says, is just not worth it.
Everett, 76, whose son was murdered in Bridgeport in 1987, said Wednesday that closure will be impossible for those who knew and loved the Fairfield couple murdered in their jewelry store six years ago.
The expense of the death penalty and the decades-long courtroom procedures leading up to the potential execution of Christopher DiMeo, he said, will simply prolong the pain for survivors. DiMeo was found guilty of capital murder Wednesday, but a separate trial has to be held to determine if he'll receive the death penalty.
During an interview after a news conference to promote the proposed repeal of Connecticut's death penalty, Everett said he can understand how anguish and desire for justice can lead people to demand the death penalty for murderers like DiMeo. But years of appeals and court appearances are a grind on survivors, who are better left moving on with their own lives.
"There is no such thing as closure in something like this," said Everett, a retired minister who formerly lived in Easton.
"There is an incredible cost of the death penalty, both emotionally for families of victims because they tend to wait seemingly forever, for the execution," Everett said. "Somehow, families of victims need to find a way to heal and the long process of the appeals does nothing to assist the family in the healing."
"Legislature called upon to end legal executions," is by Kenton Robinson for The Day.
They stood in a row behind the podium in hearing room 1B of the Legislative Office Building Wednesday, more than a dozen fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters of the murdered.
Some held pictures of those they have lost over their hearts as, one by one, others took a turn at the podium to explain why they, collateral victims, don't want the killers of their loved ones killed.
They were there to ask the state legislature to end the death penalty, bringing with them a petition signed by 76 family members of murder victims.
Their argument was a simple one: Connecticut's death penalty is broken; it perpetuates a system that torments the victims' families with a promise of closure that never comes.
Indeed, the only resident of death row to be executed in the past 50 years was serial killer Michael Ross, who did not die until 2005,
21 years after his arrest, and only then because he sought his own execution."It's time to put an end to the death penalty in this state, because we have learned that the process frequently causes more harm to surviving family members," said George Kain, an associate professor of justice and law administration at Western Connecticut State University.
"It's time for us to listen to those who have suffered through this process and to support them in putting an end to any further pain and suffering that this process causes," Kain said.
NECN coverage is, "Anti-death penalty movement in Conn.," by Brian Burnell. The report includes video, at the link.
Jury selection begins next month for the second man charged in the Cheshire, Connecticut home invasion and murders. The case is likely to color the debate over whether to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut. That man is Joshua Komisarjevsky. He faces the death penalty in the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters.
Dr. William Petit survived the attack and wants Komisarjevsky convicted and executed. He wishes are likely to influence this debate.
Pamela Joiner, Son Murdered: "In 2008 my son Jamar was shot and killed."
Elizabeth Brancato, Mother Murdered: "She was brutally beaten, raped and bludgeoned to death."
These are the other victims. Family members of people who were murdered joining together to call for an end to the death penalty in Connecticut. They say the state's capital punishment law doesn't punish criminals. It celebrates the criminal and re-victimizes the families of those murdered.
Dr. Gail Canzano, Brother-in law Murdered: "We elevate the murderer, we put families through years of agony and, in the end, we execute no one."
Hartford Courant columnist Helen Ubinas writes, "Now's Time For Real Debate On Death Penalty," today.
It didn't take long before someone brought up Dr. William Petit Jr. at a press conference calling for the abolition of the death penalty.
It was inevitable. Even while families of murder victims spoke passionately about why they were against capital punishment, the Cheshire death penalty cases now playing out loomed large in that legislative hearing room.
And then someone asked if anyone had a message for Dr. Petit.
There was a brief pause — who wants to go there? Who wants to tell a man who lost his wife and daughters in one horrific night that it's time to abolish the death penalty he's publicly supported?
But then, Gail Canzano approached the microphone.
"I am so sorry that we were not able to abolish capital punishment before those murders in Cheshire happened,'' said Canzano, whose brother-in-law was killed in 1999.
"We've watched what the trial did to that family. We've watched that family have to be confronted with bloody photographs, horrifying details," she said. "And I can only say that I am so sorry that Dr. Petit has to go through this.
I urge the Connecticut legislature to see to it that this never happens to another family."
And:
State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, the New Haven Democrat leading the repeal effort in the legislature, said it's time for an honest discussion about the death penalty. He's right.
We've had people use the issue to further their own agendas, to get elected. Now it's time to decide what's in the best interest of the state, and its residents — even if it means finally admitting that we just don't have the stomach for the death penalty in Connecticut.
Earlier coverage from Connecticut begins with this preview of yesterday's events.
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