The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the state’s current death penalty law is unconstitutional and in doing so has barred the execution of 11 inmates.
The New York Times reported that in a 4-3 decision the Court ruled that a law passed in 2012, which prohibited the execution of inmates convicted of crimes that were committed on or after the date of the law but permitted the execution of inmates who committed crimes earlier, is “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The Hartford Courant noted that the case the court used as a basis to analyze the state’s death penalty law was an appeal by Eduardo Santiago, whose first death sentence was overturned. He later faced a second penalty hearing and the possibility of lethal injection for a 2000 murder-for-hire killing.
"In light of the governing constitutional principles and Connecticut's unique historical and legal landscape, we are persuaded that, following its prospective abolition, this state's death penalty no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency and no longer serves any legitimate penological purpose," Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote in the decision. "For these reasons, execution of those offenders who committed capital felonies prior to April 25, 2012, would violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment."
Thirty-one U.S. states still have the death penalty. Nebraska was the most recent to abolish it last May.