Petit asks to streamline death penalty

By ConnPolitics.tv Staff on Mar 10, 2010 | In News, General Assembly | 6 feedbacks »

Hartford, Conn. (AP) – The sole survivor of the deadly 2007 Cheshire home invasion is asking Connecticut legislators to streamline the legal process for death penalty cases and give victims a greater voice in the process.

Dr. William Petit testified on Wednesday before the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers are considering a bill, proposed by Republicans, that places limits on certain appeals and adopts recommendations from a 2003 death penalty commission.

The bill comes a year after Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a measure that would have abolished Connecticut’s death penalty.

Petit says victims should be able to address the jury in a death penalty case during the penalty phase of the hearing. He says they typically speak after the jury has made its decision, which he says is a slap in the face to victims.

Comment from: GLENNA MACDONALD [Visitor]
I think justice prevails over emotional manipulations.
~Peace Glenna~
03/11/10 @ 00:46
Comment from: GLENNA MACDONALD [Visitor]
I think Petit should write his feelings in a book.
We kmow his pain.
The decision is for the folk/victims he killed,not those left behind to suffer.
Those left behind are here for us to comfort,the best we can,by God.
~Peace Glenna~
03/11/10 @ 00:51
Comment from: Joke [Visitor]
Our death penalty lawa are a joke. they should have 6 months to appeal and no more than 1 year to execution. sitting on death row for 20 years is a joke and cost taxpayers millions per year to keep these sc*um alive.
03/11/10 @ 08:44
Comment from: GLENNA MACDONALD [Visitor]
I think they sit because the decisions are inconclusive without dna and how many have been freed with dna finding someone else commited the crime.
Found guilty and death penelty are two different things.
Petit needs to find a lawyer and sue the hell out of the facility that let them out,if they escaped the guards were asleep.It wasn`t that it was Stephen and Joshua,it could have been anyone,so this isn`t a personal issue,it is bigger, while the facility that loosed them sits in the shadows.
~Peace Glenna~
03/11/10 @ 09:09
Comment from: Get Real [Visitor]
Hayes tried to commit suicide but te state stopped him..... and now the state insures that he can not do such again..... suicide - the most effective form of death penalty and the state won't allow that for a death row inmate!
03/11/10 @ 09:17
Comment from: Janie [Visitor]
We are so slack with laws in CT. Not allowing the proven guilty to sit for years in death row at our expense would help clean up some of the deficit. I have read of cases where a person commits murder . . takes another's life . . and doesn't get even life in prison. That's hard to take. They don't deserve a life. This state has treated Dr. Petit horribly and I hope Dr. Petit makes them pay dearly. The scum sitting in his cell complaining of too much light is really over the top. CT needs the death penalty and plea agreements should be abolished completely!
03/11/10 @ 09:57

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