Connecticut​’s Senate gave final leg­isla­tive approval to a bill that would abol­ish the death penal­ty in an ear­ly morn­ing vote on May 22. After a near­ly 11-hour debate, the Senate vot­ed 19 – 17 to end cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, eight days after the House of Representatives approved the bill 90 – 56. The bill will now go to Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s desk. When asked the day before its pas­sage if she would veto the bill, Rell said, ​“I haven’t seen it, but you know how I feel about the death penal­ty. I’ve always believed that there are some crimes that are so heinous that it deserves the death penal­ty.” State Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams expressed his hopes that the gov­er­nor would sign the bill, giv­en the turn of events in the leg­is­la­ture, ​“History has been made in the state leg­is­la­ture,” Williams said. ​“We have seen a sea change in the state House of Representatives and the state Senate, and I think it reflects some­thing that’s going on across the coun­try. … I think it’s very impor­tant that we stress that what we’re talk­ing about now is a very cer­tain sen­tence of life in prison, with­out the chance of parole. … I would hope the gov­er­nor would reflect upon the evidence.” 

A fel­low sup­port­er of the death penal­ty, Senator Edith Prague, vot­ed for the bill after hear­ing about cas­es where inno­cent peo­ple spent years in prison. Speaking of one such case, Prague said, ​“I know that the mis­take made with [James] Tillman is hor­ren­dous. My sense is that the jus­tice sys­tem makes mis­takes.” One of the bill’s chief pro­po­nents, Senator Andrew McDonald, point­ed out the lack of deter­rence from the death penal­ty. He point­ed to what he called the ​“death penal­ty mills” of Texas and Louisiana, where mur­der rates are two to four times that of Connecticut’s.

(J. Lender, D. Altimari, ​“Death penal­ty abo­li­tion gets final leg­isla­tive approval in sen­ate,” The Hartford Courant, May 22, 2009). See Recent Legislative Activity. In recent years, New York, New Jersey, and New Mexico have aban­doned the death penal­ty. Other states such as Maryland, Montana, Colorado and New Hampshire came close to tak­ing such action this year.

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