Capital punishment in Connecticut

Capital punishment in Connecticut formerly existed as an available sanction for a criminal defendant upon conviction for the commission of a capital offense. Since the 1976 United States Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Georgia until Connecticut repealed capital punishment in 2012, Connecticut executed one individual, although the law allows executions to proceed for those still on death row and convicted under the previous law.

Death row inmates are placed in the Connecticut Department of Correction system. The state's death row for men currently houses eleven male inmates, who are incarcerated at Northern Correctional Institution in the town of Somers. The method of execution currently used is lethal injection. As in any other state, people who are under 18 at the time of commission of the capital crime^[1] or mentally impaired^[2] are constitutionally precluded from being executed.

History

Between 1639 and 2005, Connecticut performed 126 executions. Twenty-four executions occurred in Connecticut Colony, prior to its statehood. The remaining 102 executions occurred after Connecticut's 1788 admission to the Union as the fifth state.^[3] Contrary to popular belief, Adonijah Bailey was not the oldest person executed at age 79 in 1824; instead, he was tried and sentenced to death at age 80 in January 1825 for the murder of Jeremiah W. Pollock, and hanged himself on May 24, over two weeks before he was to be executed.^[4][5] The oldest person executed is Gershon Marx, hanged on May 18, 1905, for murder at age 73.^[6] The following are some historical milestones of capital punishment in Connecticut:

Year	Date	Milestone	Name	Race	Sex	Age	Method	Offense
1639	02015-01-30-0000January 30	first person to be executed	Nepauduck	Native American	Male	n/a	Hanging	Murder
1647	02015-05-26-0000May 26	first female to be executed	Young, Alse	White	Female	n/a	Hanging	Witchcraft
1753	02015-11-21-0000November 21	last adult female to be executed by hanging	Bramble, Sarah	White	Female	n/a	Hanging	Murder
1786	02015-12-20-0000December 20	youngest person to be executed	Ocuish, Hannah	Native American	Female	12	Hanging	Murder
1817	02015-11-30-0000November 30	last person to be executed for a crime other than murder	Adams, Amos	Black	Male	28	Hanging	Rape
1905	02015-05-18-0000May 18	oldest person to be executed	Marx, Gershon	White	Male	73	Hanging	Murder
1936	02015-04-07-0000April 7	last person to be executed by hanging	Simborski, John	White	Male	30	Hanging	Murder
1937	02015-02-10-0000February 10	first person to be executed by electric chair	McElroy, Joseph J.	White	Male	45	Electric chair	Murder
1960	02015-05-17-0000May 17	last person to be executed by electric chair (as well as the last pre-Furman execution in Connecticut)	Taborsky, Joseph	White	Male	36	Electric chair	Murder
2005	02015-05-13-0000May 13	first person to be executed by lethal injection	Ross, Michael	White	Male	45	Lethal Injection	Murder

Current status

After Furman v. Georgia, Connecticut reinstated the death penalty on January 10, 1973.^[7] Lethal injection became the method mandated to execute condemned prisoners, replacing the electric chair, which had not been used since Taborsky's execution in 1960.

Unlike most of the other states, the Governor of Connecticut cannot commute the death sentence imposed under State law or pardon a death row inmate. This is determined by the Board of Clemency, on which the Governor does not sit. The other states where the Board has sole authority are Georgia and Idaho.^[8]

Repeal

On May 22, 2009, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a bill that would abolish the death penalty, although it would not retroactively apply to the eleven current Connecticut death row inmates or those convicted of capital crimes committed before the repeal went into effect. The bill was vetoed by Governor Jodi Rell.^[9]

On April 11, 2012, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted to repeal capital punishment for future cases (leaving past death sentences in place). The Connecticut Senate had already voted for the bill, and on April 25 Governor Dannel Malloy signed the bill into law.^[10] That made Connecticut the 17th state in the US without a death penalty, and the fifth state to abolish capital punishment in five years.^[11]

Executions

During the 366 years between 1639 and 2005, Connecticut has performed a total of 126 executions. This averages to be approximately one execution every three years. The only person to be executed since 1960 has been the serial killer and rapist Michael Bruce Ross on May 13, 2005, for the kidnapping, rapes and murders of Robin Stavinsky, April Brunais, Wendy Baribeault, and Leslie Shelley.^[12] Until the 2005 Roper v. Simmons decision, juveniles over the age of 16 could be sentenced to death because state law only required that the offender be tried in adult court to face the death penalty.

Method of Execution	Years Employed	Number of Executions
Hanging	1639—1936	107
Electric chair	1937—1960	18
Lethal injection	2005—present	1
Total:	366 Years	126 Executions

Notable executions

Several notable executions have occurred in both Connecticut Colony and in the state of Connecticut, as indicated below.

• Alse Young — Young, of Windsor, is the first person on record to be executed for witchcraft in the thirteen American colonies. On May 26, 1647, Young was hanged at the Meeting House Square in Hartford, Connecticut, on what is now the site of the Old State House.

• Hannah Ocuish — Ocuish (born 1774) was a mentally retarded Pequot Indian girl who was hanged on December 20, 1786 in New London County, Connecticut. She was accused of killing the young daughter of a prominent white family after quarreling with her over some strawberries. At the time of her execution, Ocuish was 12 years and 9 months old. She is believed to be the youngest person legally executed in America.

• Gerald Chapman – Chapman, a Prohibition-era gangster known as "The Count of Gramercy Park", was the first criminal to be dubbed "Public Enemy Number One" by the press.^[13] Convicted of the October 12, 1924 murder of police officer James Skelly in New Britain, Chapman was hanged by upright jerker on April 6, 1926 at the state prison in Wethersfield.

• Michael Bruce Ross — The execution of Ross was the first in Connecticut (and in all of New England) since 1960. It was also the first execution in Connecticut administered by lethal injection. As of 2014, Ross is the most recent inmate executed in Connecticut, although the state's death row houses ten convicted murderers who are in various stages of legal appeals.

Death row

The male death row is located at the Northern Correctional Institution. In 1995 the male death row moved from Osborn Correctional Institution to Northern.^[14] The execution chamber is located at Osborn.^[15] The York Correctional Institution houses all female prisoners in the state, but as of 2012 no women are on the death row.^[16]

Inmates sentenced to death

There are currently eleven inmates sentenced to death in Connecticut.

Name	Race	Date of birth	Current age	Date of offense	Age at offense	Date of arrest	Date of sentencing	Years on death row	Location of offense	Capital felony	Aggravating factor
Ashby, Lazale	Black	01984-11-28-0000November 28, 1984	30	02002-12-02-0000December 2, 2002	18	02003-09-04-0000September 4, 2003	02008-03-28-0000March 28, 2008	6	Hartford	Murder during sexual assault	Heinous, cruel, or depraved murder
Breton, Robert	White	01946-12-10-0000December 10, 1946	68	01987-12-13-0000December 13, 1987	41	01987-12-15-0000December 15, 1987	01989-10-27-0000October 27, 1989	25	Waterbury	Murder of a person under the age of sixteen	Heinous, cruel, or depraved murder
Campbell, Jessie	Black	01979-09-09-0000September 9, 1979	35	02000-08-26-0000August 26, 2000	20	02000-09-05-0000September 5, 2000	02007-08-16-0000August 16, 2007	7	Hartford	Murder with multiple victims	Murder creating risk of death to others
Cobb, Sedrick	Black	01962-02-03-0000February 3, 1962	53	01989-12-16-0000December 16, 1989	27	01989-12-21-0000December 21, 1989	01991-08-13-0000August 13, 1991	23	Waterbury	Two capital felonies	Heinous, cruel, or depraved murder
Hayes, Steven	White	01963-05-30-0000May 30, 1963	51	02007-07-23-0000July 23, 2007	44	02007-07-23-0000July 23, 2007	02010-12-02-0000December 2, 2010	4	Cheshire	Six capital felonies	Heinous, cruel, or depraved murder
Komisarjevsky, Joshua	White	01980-08-10-0000August 10, 1980	34	02007-07-23-0000July 23, 2007	26	02007-07-23-0000July 23, 2007	02012-01-27-0000January 27, 2012	3	Cheshire	Six capital felonies	Heinous, cruel, or depraved murder
Peeler, Russell	Black	01972-01-15-0000January 15, 1972	43	01999-01-08-0000January 8, 1999	26	01999-01-14-0000January 14, 1999	02007-12-10-0000December 10, 2007	7	Bridgeport	Murder with multiple victims; murder of a person under the age of sixteen	Heinous, cruel, or depraved murder
Reynolds, Richard	Black	01968-11-08-0000November 8, 1968	46	01992-12-18-0000December 18, 1992	24	01992-12-21-0000December 21, 1992	01995-04-13-0000April 13, 1995	19	Waterbury	Murder of a police officer	Heinous, cruel, or depraved murder; murder during the attempted commission of a felony having previously been convicted of the same felony
Rizzo, Todd	White	01978-10-11-0000October 11, 1978	36	01997-09-30-0000September 30, 1997	18	01997-10-02-0000October 2, 1997	01999-08-13-0000August 13, 1999	15	Waterbury	Murder of a person under the age of sixteen
Roszkowski, Richard	White	01965-01-08-0000January 8, 1965	50	02006-09-07-0000September 7, 2006	41	02009-01-01-00002009	02014-05-22-0000May 22, 2014	0	Bridgeport	Murder with multiple victims; murder of a person under the age of sixteen	Heinous, cruel, or depraved murder
Webb, Daniel	Black	01962-07-21-0000July 21, 1962	52	01989-08-24-0000August 24, 1989	27	01989-08-25-0000August 25, 1989	01991-09-12-0000September 12, 1991	23	Hartford

Crimes

• Lazale Delane Ashby — Ashby was condemned to death on March 28, 2008.^[17] On December 2, 2002, Ashby raped and murdered his neighbor, 21-year-old Elizabeth Garcia, in her Hartford apartment, and was subsequently convicted of the crimes.

• Robert Breton, Sr. — Breton was sentenced to death on October 27, 1989.^[18] On December 13, 1987, Berton murdered his wife JoAnn (38) and their son, Robert Breton, Jr. (16), by beating and stabbing them to death. He was convicted of one capital felony and two counts of murder.

• Jessie Campbell III — Campbell was condemned to death on August 16, 2007,^[19] for the murders of LaTaysha Logan (20) and Desiree Privette (18), and also convicted of the attempted murder of Privette's aunt, Carolyn Privette, in an August 26, 2000 shooting spree.

• Sedrick "Ricky" Cobb — Cobb was sentenced to death on August 13, 1991.^[20] The former deliveryman from Naugatuck was convicted of the rape and murder of 23-year-old Julia Ashe of Watertown, whom he kidnapped from a Waterbury department store parking lot on December 16, 1989.

• Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky – Hayes was condemned to death on December 2, 2010, and Komisarjevsky was condemned on January 27, 2012, for the same crimes.^[21][22][23] Hayes was found guilty on 16 out of 17 counts related to the home invasion murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, age 48, and her daughters Hayley Petit, 17, and Michaela Petit, 11. William Petit, husband / father of the deceased, survived the attack, and Komisarjevsky was convicted on all 17 counts related to the same set of crimes. Each sentence includes six consecutive death sentences, one for each capital felony conviction, plus an additional 106 years for the remaining charges.

• Russell Peeler, Jr. — Peeler, a drug dealer, was condemned to death on December 10, 2007; he was convicted on October 15, 2007 of ordering his younger brother Adrian Peeler to kill Karen Clarke and her eight-year-old son, Leroy "B.J." Brown, Jr., in their Bridgeport duplex on January 8, 1999.^[24] The boy was expected to be the key witness against Peeler in the upcoming trial for the May 29, 1998 fatal shooting of Clarke's boyfriend, Rudolf Snead, Jr., who was a former drug associate of Peeler's.^[25] Leroy Brown had also been witness to an earlier drive-by shooting attack on Snead by Peeler prior to the murder.^[26] Peeler was subsequently convicted of Snead's murder. Peeler claims to have no involvement in any of the murders.^[26] Peeler is the only inmate on Connecticut's Death Row who did not actually commit murder.^[27] Rather, he ordered his brother to commit the murder.^[28]

• Richard Reynolds — Reynolds, a Brooklyn, New York, crack dealer, was condemned to death on April 13, 1995.^[29] Reynolds murdered Officer Walter T. Williams (34) of the Waterbury Police Department on December 18, 1992; while being searched by Williams, Reynolds bumped against him to determine if the officer was wearing a bulletproof vest. Reynolds then shot Williams point-blank in the head with a handgun.^[30]

• Todd Rizzo — Rizzo was condemned to death^[31] on March 29, 1999 for the September 30, 1997 murder of 13-year-old Stanley Edwards of Waterbury. Rizzo killed the boy by bludgeoning him at least 13 times with a three-pound sledgehammer in his backyard after telling the youth that they would be hunting snakes.

• Richard Roszkowski — Roszkowski was sentenced to death on May 22, 2014. He was convicted for the 2006 killings of Holly Flannery, her 9-year-old daughter, Kylie, and Milford landscaper Thomas Gaudet. Although the death penalty was abolished in the state of Connecticut in 2012, a provision of the law allows executions for those who committed capital crimes before the repeal.^[32]

• Daniel Webb — Webb was condemned to death on September 12, 1991;^[33] he was convicted of kidnapping, rape and murder for the August 24, 1989 slaying in Hartford of Diane Gellenbeck, a 37-year-old Connecticut National Bank vice president. Prior to this, Webb already had an extensive criminal record including a 1983 robbery conviction, a 1984 rape and kidnapping conviction, and an arrest in 1987 for rape. While out on bail after the 1987 arrest, he raped and murdered Gellenbeck.

Inmates removed from death row

• Colon, Ivo — In 2000, a jury sentenced Ivo Colon to death for the 1998 murder of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter, Keriana Tellado, in Waterbury. In 2004, the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned Colon's death sentence and ordered a new penalty hearing. The State's Attorney eventually decided not to seek the death penalty again. In a subsequent retrial of the penalty hearing, a plea bargain was reached, and Colon received two life sentences.

• Courchesne, Robert — Courchesne was convicted of capital felony by a three-judge panel in the September 15, 1998, deaths of Demetris Rodgers and her baby. Rodgers was eight months pregnant when she was stabbed over a $410 drug debt. Her baby, Antonia, was delivered by emergency Caesarean section minutes after her death, and supposedly died 42 days later. However, on June 4, 2010, Courchesne's death sentence was overturned by the Connecticut Supreme Court, who ruled that the state did not show that Antonia was born alive after he stabbed her pregnant mother to death; upheld his conviction in Rodgers' murder; and ordered a new trial.^[34]

• Johnson, Terry — In 1993, Terry Johnson was sentenced to death for the June 5, 1991, murder of Connecticut State Trooper Russell Bagshaw in Windham. In May 2000, his sentence was reduced to life in prison without the possibility of release. Terry Johnson, and his brother Duane Johnson, were convicted of murdering Bagshaw while burglarizing a gun shop. Trooper Bagshaw interrupted the Johnson brothers as they were stealing guns from the shop. Terry Johnson fired 19 times in the darkness with a semiautomatic pistol, killing Bagshaw before he could get out of his cruiser. One bullet found a gap in the trooper's bulletproof vest.

• Santiago, Eduardo — Santiago had been condemned to death on January 31, 2005;^[35] he was convicted of capital felony and murder charges after shooting Joseph Niwinski in the left temple as he slept in his West Hartford apartment on December 14, 2000. Prosecutors said Santiago carried out a murder-for-hire scheme in which he agreed to kill Niwinski in exchange for a broken snowmobile and his credit card debt being paid off.^[36] However, the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned Santiago's death sentence on June 4, 2012, and ruled that the trial judge, Elliot Solomon, failed to disclose "significant and relevant" mitigating evidence for jury consideration when they had decided to send Santiago to death row in 2005. The court let Santiago's conviction stand and ordered a new trial.^[37]

See also

• List of death row inmates in Connecticut
• Capital punishment in the United States
• Chapman, Gerald
• Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders
• List of individuals executed in Connecticut
• Methods of execution: Electric chair, Hanging, Lethal injection
• Ocuish, Hannah
• Ross, Michael Bruce
• Taborsky, Joseph "Mad Dog"
• Young, Achsah
• List of wrongful convictions in the United States
• List of exonerated death row inmates
• List of United States death row inmates
• List of most recent executions by jurisdiction

References

External links

• Executions in Connecticut Since 1894
• Legislation and History of Capital Punishment in Connecticut at the Connecticut State Library.
• Summary of Connecticut Death Penalty Laws
• Summary of Death Penalty Appeals and Habeas Proceedings
• Photographs of Connecticut's Death Row Inmates
• Photograph of Connecticut Lethal Injection Table
• Department of Correction Directives on Administration of Capital Punishment
• Department of Correction Offender Information Search

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