"Key Lawmaker Ties Death Penalty Vote To Repeal Of Early-Release Credits," is by Daniela Altimari for the Hartford Courant.
State Sen. Andrew Roraback, a longtime opponent of the death penalty, said Friday he would not back a repeal bill unless lawmakers also reverse a series of changes to the state's criminal justice policy.
Roraback's vote is considered key if capital punishment is to be abolished in Connecticut this year.
The legislature's judiciary committee announced earlier this week that it intends to raise the issue this session.
In past years, a repeal bill has passed the House by a wide margin but vote counts in the Senate have been much closer.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports, "Prosecutors push for changes to innocence law used to free Asheville area men." It's by Clarke Morrison.
Prosecutors are again seeking changes to a North Carolina law that allowed two Buncombe County men convicted of murder to be exonerated of their wrongful convictions.
A special three-judge panel freed Kenneth Kagonyera and Robert Wilcoxson in September after determining there was clear and convincing evidence they had each spent more than 11 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.
But representatives of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys told lawmakers recently the law creating the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission needs to be changed to require a more stringent burden of proof for defendants to be exonerated.
Prosecutors also told members of a House judiciary subcommittee they want to be able to cross-examine witnesses and offer rebuttal testimony during the initial hearing before the full eight-member commission.
Earlier coverage from Connecticut and North Carolina begins at the links.
Comments