Man convicted of murdering ex girlfriend her child and family friend attempts to dodge his death sentence
And so it begins.
The first multi-murderer on death row makes a bid to change his death sentence to life in prison, based solely upon Connecticut's recent "prospective" death penalty repeal, a repeal that happened long after the horrible triple murders that he committed, including shooting a five year old child to death.
We all knew that the so called prospective nature of this repeal was in name only; a bone thrown to those legislators who were on the fence regarding the repeal, as well an attempt to placate the masses; 68 percent of Connecticut's residents in poll after poll were against abolishment of the death penalty. Most wanted the limitless appeals process that encumbered our States rarely pursued Death penalty, making it expensive and impractical - rewritten via law. Instead our Judicary committee and the bulk of our house chose to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water.
Susan Storrey, Connecticut's lead public defender announced on a televised public forum on what was then the judiciary committee's proposed repeal, one of the first things that she and her fellow lawyers-mostly tax paid public defenders) would set about once the repeal was successful, would be to fight TOOTH AND NAIL to extradite all of the men currently on death row, have their sentences commuted to life in prison and place them into the regular prison population.
The lawyers would seek to do this using the higher courts with the argument in tow that the death penalty was no longer this state's capital punishment and abolishment the growing societal trend.state by state. This they say is " evidence" of a nationwide shift and thus "prospective or not they suggest nullification of that portion of the law because it is morally and legally wrong to impose death sentences upon some murderers and not others.
Not taken into account by Storrey and the plethora of like minded Connecticut lawyers, is the fact that the death penalty was in fact the penalty for capital crimes with egregious aggravating factors, at the time that these crimes were committed, as well the adjudication of those crimes which all included multiple murder,
I am speaking of the often long arduous trials by jury of the convicted mans peers, which included a separate sentencing portion whose sole purpose was for the jury to weigh the aggravating factor evidence against the defenses mitigating factors evidence" and to procure a fair sentence based upon this, following the court instructed strict parameters.
Every man who currently sits on Connecticut's death row, including Richard Roszkowski, has gotten there justly, with their rights zealously protected. To now willfully embark upon reversing all of the hard work and efforts of the jury members, the presiding judge, the witnesses, the victims advocates... as well pick open the barely healed scab of the family members pain in the process\- is obscene, selfish and makes a mockery of any bill passed herein by the Connecticut legislature.
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* most recent Quninnipiac Poll 2011
Convicted Bridgeport killer fighting death penalty
