Lawmakers consider abolishing state's death penalty

By NOREEN GILLESPIE
Associated Press Writer

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- On the same day serial killer Michael Ross' execution was postponed indefinitely because of legal maneuvering, state lawmakers on Monday began to question if Connecticut should have a death penalty at all.

While the state's first planned execution in 45 years continued to hang in legal limbo, lawmakers held a hearing on the death penalty and tried their best to keep the conversation on public policy, and not about whether Ross should die.

"This is not a public hearing about Michael Ross," said state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Dozens of people waited for hours at the hearing for the chance to tell lawmakers on the committee about murdered relatives, experiences with inmates on death row and the legal system.

Laurence Adams told lawmakers that when Massachusetts abolished the death penalty in 1977, it gave him more time to prove his innocence. He was sentenced to death in 1974 for the murder of a Boston MBTA worker. A judge overturned his conviction in June.

But Adams, who spent 31 years behind bars, knows that it was only by Massachusetts overturning the law that he was given enough time to appeal.

"The reality of jurisprudence in America is we have killed innocent people, and we probably will again," he told lawmakers.

Lawmakers are considering legislation that would get rid of the death penalty and commute the sentences of the seven men on the state's death row to life in prison without the possibility of release.

The bill's fate is uncertain. Public opinion polls show that a majority of state residents favor the death penalty, and Gov. M. Jodi Rell has said she would veto bills abolishing the death penalty.

Though Ross has said he wants to end his appeals and proceed with lethal injection, a flurry of legal action in recent weeks has raised doubts about whether Connecticut will ever execute anyone again.

Gerard Smyth, the state's chief public defender, said the "tortured process" of those appeals is necessary. The only solution is to get rid of the death penalty, Smyth said.

"It will always take 15 to 20 years or more to execute someone in the state of Connecticut. In fact, it may be more difficult to execute someone than to sentence them to death," he said.

Critics of the death penalty have said it is not applied evenly across the state. For example, six of the state's seven death row cases came from the Waterbury Judicial District.

But John Connelly, the Waterbury state's attorney who handled the cases, said other areas of the state, such as Hartford, have pursued more capital felony cases.

He said he has pursued the death penalty in the most severe cases.

"I will never, ever, ever, ever plea bargain a case where it involved the death of a police officer. I will never plea bargain a case where it involved the death and brutal stabbing of a woman who was nine months pregnant, stabbed multiple times, thrown out of the car," he said.

To fix the system, Connelly said, the legislature could consider imposing time limits on appeals. That way, the legal process would not drag on for decades before a scheduled execution date.

Victims' families were split on the issue.

Helen Williams, the mother of slain Waterbury police officer Walter Williams III, told the committee that while the death penalty may not be a deterrent in all cases, it may be in some. Richard Reynolds, a New York drug dealer, shot the 34-year-old Williams to death when he was stopped for questioning.

Fighting back tears, she said, "What do we value most? Our life. If you know that it is going to be taken from you, you may think twice if you are premeditating murder."

Gail Canzano said her family couldn't let go of her brother-in-law's murder until his killer was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Compared to the families of Ross' victims, they had it easy, she said. With the continuing legal actions the death penalty brings, it still isn't over, she said.

"Instead we have a deranged man choreographing a legal circus," Canzano said.

Many lawmakers struggled with whether life in prison was an acceptable punishment for serious crimes. Many pressed anti-death penalty activists for alternatives to the death penalty.

Dad Singapore, a Catholic Worker volunteer who said she has been visiting Ross in prison for the last eight years, said that she opposes the death penalty and solitary confinement.

Inmates need to be helped, she said.

Ross has been "a model prisoner," she said, even working in the prison's library. "We should not punish people," she said, drawing raised eyebrows from a few lawmakers. "We should try to help them."

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.