When Connecticut abol­ished the death penal­ty in 2012, it did so prospec­tive­ly, leav­ing its death row pop­u­la­tion in place. Now, Connecticut new­pa­per The Day is call­ing on the state to ​“have the courage and con­sis­ten­cy to out­law gov­ern­ment sanc­tioned killing in all instances.” The edi­to­r­i­al first high­lights the paper’s long­stand­ing oppo­si­tion to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, say­ing ​“It remains our posi­tion that a state-spon­sored exe­cu­tion dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly tar­gets minori­ties, has no deter­rent val­ue, can­not be undone if there is a mis­take and is a bar­bar­ic act that low­ers the state to the lev­el of the killer.” It then draws on recent events to point out the prac­ti­cal prob­lems with Connecticut’s exe­cu­tion method, lethal injec­tion. ​“The Department of Correction has con­firmed it has none of these drugs and no way to obtain them because many domes­tic and for­eign drug­mak­ers, includ­ing those in the 28-nation European Union, have object­ed to using their prod­ucts in exe­cu­tions.” The edi­to­r­i­al clos­es by men­tion­ing the ongo­ing court case chal­leng­ing the con­si­tu­tion­al­i­ty of Connecticut’s cur­rent death penal­ty law, say­ing ​“The like­li­hood is that none of the 12 [men on death row] will ever be exe­cut­ed and some court, state or fed­er­al, will find, as Michael Courtney, the state’s head of the Office of Public Defender, has said, ​“there is noth­ing more arbi­trary and capri­cious” than the present sit­u­a­tion in which a per­son com­mit­ting a cap­i­tal felony on April 24, 2012, the day before Connecticut abol­ished cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, can be exe­cut­ed while the per­son com­mit­ting the exact same crime the next day can­not.” Read the full editorial below.

Stop charade, fully repeal death penalty

When the General Assembly abol­ished the death penal­ty two years ago, this news­pa­per said the state should have the courage and con­sis­ten­cy to out­law gov­ern­ment sanc­tioned killing in all instances, includ­ing the 11, now 12, men await­ing exe­cu­tion for death penal­ty crimes com­mit­ted before April 25, 2012.

It remains our posi­tion that a state-spon­sored exe­cu­tion dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly tar­gets minori­ties, has no deter­rent val­ue, can­not be undone if there is a mis­take and is a bar­bar­ic act that low­ers the state to the lev­el of the killer.

Now, we can add the botched exe­cu­tion in Oklahoma that has prompt­ed sev­er­al death penal­ty states to sus­pend exe­cu­tions until seri­ous ques­tions about lethal injec­tion — the method of exe­cu­tion in Oklahoma and Connecticut — are resolved.

Then there is a prac­ti­cal prob­lem. Connecticut has none of the three exe­cu­tion drugs required by state law to admin­is­ter its left­over death penal­ty and can’t legal­ly get them.

To kill a per­son legal­ly in Connecticut, the exe­cu­tion­er must use sodi­um thiopen­tal, which induces uncon­scious­ness; pan­cro­ni­um bro­mide, which par­a­lyzes the mus­cles and potas­si­um chlo­ride to stop the heart.

The Department of Correction has con­firmed it has none of these drugs and no way to obtain them because many domes­tic and for­eign drug­mak­ers, includ­ing those in the 28-nation European Union, have object­ed to using their prod­ucts in exe­cu­tions. This has led to severe drug short­ages for exe­cu­tions in most of the 32 states where the death penal­ty has not been abol­ished, as well as in Connecticut, where it exists for a dozen men.

“There’s no state that I know that cur­rent­ly has access to these drugs,” Michael Lawlor, the state’s under­sec­re­tary of crim­i­nal jus­tice pol­i­cy told the Associated Press. Asked what the state would do to car­ry out an exe­cu­tion, Lawlor said he did­n’t know. ​“There is no exe­cu­tion immi­nent in Connecticut, so we can wait and see.”

There was no exe­cu­tion immi­nent in 2005 when one of the long­time death row inhab­i­tants, Michael Ross, vol­un­tar­i­ly gave up his appeal rights and became the only per­son to die of lethal injec­tion in Connecticut. It was the state’s first exe­cu­tion since 1960.

In a state that has abol­ished cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and has clear­ly had no appetite for it for more than half a cen­tu­ry, the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion bor­ders on the grotesque as it does in the 32 states using lethal injec­tion. Ironically, this is the method con­sid­ered the more humane sub­sti­tute for oth­er, bar­bar­ic means of legal­ly tak­ing a life.

There’s more. We do not know who lethal­ly inject­ed Mr. Ross, but until 2010, it was often an anes­the­si­ol­o­gist. Since then, the American Board of Anesthesiologists has announced it will revoke the work­ing cre­den­tials of any anes­the­si­ol­o­gist who par­tic­i­pates in an exe­cu­tion on the grounds that ​“we are heal­ers, not exe­cu­tion­ers,” a board spokesman said. The American Medical Association has long opposed doctor involvement.

Capital pun­ish­ment sup­port­ers have main­tained doc­tors are not need­ed to admin­is­ter injec­tions and prison employ­ees will do, but the exe­cu­tion­er’s qual­i­fi­ca­tions could lead to more years of lit­i­ga­tion, along with chal­lenges ques­tion­ing the sources of drugs and how they have been tested.

All of this could be resolved if the Connecticut Supreme Court rules in favor of death row inmate Eduardo Santiago, whose argu­ments that the penal­ty’s abo­li­tion should be retroac­tive were heard last year. A rul­ing is expect­ed soon. Our expec­ta­tion is that the court will find the cur­rent death penal­ty law unconstitutional.

But even if the court rules against Santiago, there are many oth­er legal issues to be resolved, Bridgeport attor­ney Michael Fitzpatrick, who rep­re­sent­ed Michael Ross, told The Connecticut Post. ​“We still have not had the fed­er­al courts take a hard look at the state’s death penal­ty statute” or rule whether the state’s death penal­ty statute is constitutional.

The like­li­hood is that none of the 12 will ever be exe­cut­ed and some court, state or fed­er­al, will find, as Michael Courtney, the state’s head of the Office of Public Defender, has said, ​“there is noth­ing more arbi­trary and capri­cious” than the present sit­u­a­tion in which a per­son com­mit­ting a cap­i­tal felony on April 24, 2012, the day before Connecticut abol­ished cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, can be exe­cut­ed while the per­son com­mit­ting the exact same crime the next day cannot.

The state has found that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is moral­ly wrong. It is and it should be without exception.

(Editorial, ​“Stop cha­rade, ful­ly repeal death penal­ty,” The Day, June 5, 2014.) See Editorials and Recent Legislation.

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