OLR Report 2012-R-0020 provides information on each death row inmate including the crimes they committed, their offense and sentencing dates, and the status of their appeals and habeas corpus petitions.
Eleven inmates are currently sentenced to death. Robert Breton, first sentenced to death in 1989, has been on death row the longest. Although the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned his sentence and ordered a new sentencing hearing, Breton remained on death row and was again sentenced to death in 1998. Joshua Komisarjevsky is the most recent person sentenced to death (2011).
The cases for seven of the 11 inmates have not completed the initial appellate review by the Connecticut Supreme Court (including Komisarjevsky's, where the sentencing process is not yet complete). The remaining four have finished their direct appeals to the Connecticut Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court denied their petition for review. All four of these inmates filed state habeas corpus petitions which were denied by the Superior Court. All four are appealing the Superior Court's decision.
A table in the report provides, for each of the 11 inmates sentenced to death, a brief description of their crimes, offense and sentencing dates, and the status of direct appeals and habeas petitions. It is in order of the offense dates from earliest to latest.
In addition to the habeas petitions listed in the table, most death row inmates and some others are part of a habeas proceeding consolidating all racial disparity claims by inmates sentenced to death. The trial in the Superior Court on the habeas petition is scheduled for June 2012 (In re: Racial Disparity et al. v. Commissioner of Correction).
For more information, read full report.
