Top legislative Republican wants 2012 research Malloy used on death-penalty repeal [CT Post]

CT Post | http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Top-legislative-Republican-wants-2012-research-6448924.php

Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano on Monday asked Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to give reasons for his 2012 stance that the repeal of the death penalty would not affect the 11 murderers on Connecticut’s Death Row.

Malloy’s spokesman discounted Fasano’s request as political grandstanding.

“Based upon the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling made by an activist court banning the death penalty, despite the clear intent of the legislature to maintain the death penalty for those currently on death row, including the Cheshire killers, and based on the strong dissent which clearly explains how the majority of the court overstepped the boundaries of our Constitution and purposely hijacked the role of policymakers, I would like to better understand how you came to your conclusion in 2012 that this very situation would not happen,” Fasano said in a letter to the governor. “In 2012, you emphatically guaranteed that the death penalty repeal bill would in no way be retroactive.”

Last week the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the 11 men on Death Row cannot be executed because of the repeal of capital punishment. They will now spend their lives in prison without the possibility of release. “ I would like to know how and why you reached an alternate conclusion regarding the constitutionality of a prospective-only repeal,” Fasano, a lawyer, wrote. He asked that the governor, a former criminal prosecutor, provide the information he analyzed while reaching his 2012 conclusion, as well as the legal opinions he researched.
“I know your personal mindset was against the death penalty in all forms. But your underlying desires could not influence the legal assurances you shared with the public,” Fasano wrote.

Devon Puglia, Malloy’s Capitol spokesman, said Monday afternoon that the governor’s office had not yet received the letter that Fasano shared with reporters.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families right now,” Puglia said in a statement. “We wish Republicans would show a modicum of respect by refraining from engaging in what are obvious political stunts.”

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