CONNECTICUT (USA): SENATE VOTES TO DO AWAY WITH DEATH PENALTY

April 5, 2012: The Connecticut Senate voted 20-16 on a bill that would do away with the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, where it is also expected to pass.
It enjoys majority support in each chamber of the state legislature, which are both Democrat-controlled. Gov. Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, has vowed to sign the measure into law should it reach his desk, his office said. "For everyone, it's a vote of conscience," said Senate President Donald Williams Jr., a Democrat who says he's long supported a repeal.
"We have a majority of legislators in Connecticut in favor of this so that the energies of our criminal justice system can be focused in a more appropriate manner."
In 2009, state lawmakers in both houses tried to pass a similar bill, but were ultimately blocked by then-Gov. Jodi Rell, a Republican.
Since 1976 Connecticut juries have handed down 15 death sentences. Of those, only one person has actually been executed: Michael Ross, a convicted serial killer, was put to death by lethal injection in 2005 after giving up his appeals. Eleven people are currently on death row.
The Senate's proposed law is prospective in nature, meaning that it would not apply to those already sentenced to death. (Sources: CNN, Connecticut Post, 05/04/2012)