The Death of Death

The good news that Steven Hayes has been sentenced to death has a tarnished silver lining.  The election of Dan Malloy as governor signals the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut will finally come to fruition, and neither Steven Hayes nor Joshua Komisarjevsky will ever see the syringe.

Governor-Elect Malloy has tried to have it both ways on this issue.  During his campaign he has contended that while he wants to abolish the death penalty in the state, he would not make it retroactive, signaling to those who view the Cheshire killings as a political issue that he would not try to prevent those killers from receiving the death penalty. A curious position to take- either you believe no one should receive the death penalty or you don't.

At any rate, the state legislature already voted to abolish the death penalty, only to have the bill vetoed by Governor Rell.  It will most assuredly be introduced again in 2011.  Advocates of abolishing the death penalty, such as Rep. Michael Lawlor of East Haven, continuously make the torpid argument that since the death penalty is so difficult to carry out in this state, we might as well just get rid of it.

He acts as if he is somehow powerless to improve the application of the death penalty, yet he is a continuous vote against streamlining the appeals process.  He obstructs improvements, and then claims those obstructions as a reason for wiping out the death penalty.

It will be interesting to see how the views of Malloy on non-retroactivity, and those of members of the legislature to save all filthy murderers currently on death row will jibe.  In the meantime, one thing is certain - Connecticut voters, who favor the execution of the Cheshire murderers by 62%, have put in place a governor and legislature that will never let it happen.