The Day reports, "Death penalty repeal bill to resurface in legislature." It's by JC Reindl.
A bill that would repeal the death penalty is moving forward in the legislature.
The General Assembly's Judiciary Committee voted 23 to 15 Wednesday to raise the repeal bill for this year's short session.
The wording is expected to be similar to that which passed the committee last year, replacing execution with life imprisonment without parole. It would also be a "prospective" measure and not apply to the 11 convicts currently on Connecticut's death row, only to future crimes.
And:
Last year's bill never came to a formal vote after state Sens. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, and Andrew Maynard, D-Stonington, changed their minds about repealing the death penalty after meetings with Dr. William Petit, the sole survivor of the 2007 Cheshire home-invasion murders.
Maynard has said he intends to vote for repeal bill this year because both home invasion trials are over and the killers, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, have been sentenced to death.
Prague said Wednesday that she remains undecided.
"Table Set For Another Debate on the Death Penalty," by Daniela Altimari for the Hartford Courant.
The fate of Connecticut’s death penalty will once again be up for debate this legislative session.
The powerful judiciary committee voted 23 to 15 this afternoon to raise a bill repealing capital punishment in the state. Seven lawmakers did not vote.
That doesn’t mean a repeal will pass the committee. Several lawmakers voted in favor of raising the concept even though they believe the death penalty should stay on the books.
Sen. Paul Doyle, a democrat from Wethersfield, said he does not support abolishing the death penalty but believes the debate ought to happen. “I’m comfortable voting yes but that does not indicate how I’m going to vote later,” he said.
Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, took a similar stance. “Like Sen. Doyle, while I prefer to keep the death penalty as it is here in Connecticut, I’m going to vote to raise this bill for a public hearing and probably to get it out of committee because I think this is too important for just a committee to vote on, but the House and Senate should take it up too.”
But Sen. Kissel, a Republican from Enfield who opposes the death penalty, voted not to raise the bill “as a protest.”
"CT Lawmakers Take Up Legislation to Repeal Death Penalty," by Lucas Willard for public broadcasting station WAMC. There is audio at the link.
The legislature's Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted 23-15 to raise the bill for discussion. A public hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Committee members are unsure how the bill will fare.
Representative Gary Holder-Winfield, a New Haven Democrat, said he's been working to gain the support of state legislators who previously opposed repeal.
Last year, repeal legislation failed in the Senate due, in part, to the on-going death penalty trial in a fatal Cheshire home invasion case. The two men convicted in the deaths of a woman and her two daughters are now on death row.
Governor Dannel P. Malloy has said he would sign legislation abolishing the death penalty for all future cases.
Earlier coverage of the Connecticut repeal debate begins at the link.
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