Saturday, March 19, 2005

this was published in the Middletown (CT) Press on the eve of New England's first execution in 45 years.

Setting the Record Straight on Connecticut’s Death Penalty
James S. McKay


As the citizens of Connecticut continue to focus on the issue of the death penalty, it becomes very important to get the facts straight. Here are several areas where I continue to hear the same mistakes reported over and over again, not only by lay people, but by the largest media sources in the state.

Appeals are Unnecessary:

It’s true that the appellate process in capital cases takes a long time. That’s not unique to Connecticut. The reason is because there are frequently issues that come to light only far along in the process. A witness may recant and exonerate the defendant. Critical evidence that may have made a difference in the jury’s verdict may have been hidden from the defense. New technology, like DNA, may come along that shows the defendant is innocent. Large legal issues that affect the fairness and accuracy of the entire death penalty process may present themselves.
Are these more than "technicalities?" Ask any of the 100+ death row inmates who spent as much as 20 years on death row after being wrongly convicted. Had the appellate process not been thorough and taken great care, most of them would have been executed.

The Alternative to the Death Penalty:

Virtually all of Connecticut’s major media sources recently reported on the results of a Quinnipiac poll that, at first glance, appeared to show that a majority of Connecticut residents (59%) support the death penalty. What was far less widely reported was the fact that support for the death penalty goes down to 37% when life without parole is offered as an alternative.

Now, here’s the rub: Connecticut already HAS life without parole. In fact, Connecticut’s alternative to the death penalty is even broader than just excluding parole. It includes life "without possibility of release" from prison. That means no furloughs, no probation, no anything. Individuals convicted of Capital Felony in Connecticut will die in prison, even without the death penalty.

Death Row is a Country Club:

Connecticut’s death row is housed at Northern Correctional Center in rural Somers. In order to get there, you have to pass through multiple double-fenced gates that are guarded by high-tech glassed-in operations pods. You are then escorted into the bowels of the facility, where you walk down a very long straight hall that is unmarked except for steel doors every so often along the way. Death row is through one of these doors near the end on the left.

Once you get in, you are placed in a concrete bunker that overlooks the cell block of death row. The inmates are housed in individual 7x12 foot cells that include a steel sink, a toilet, and metal bunk for a bed. They stay in their cells 23 hours per day.

Michael Ross Proves we Need the Death Penalty:

In another recent poll, it’s clear that a large majority of Connecticut residents believe that Michael Ross deserves to die. The severity of his crimes plus the strength of the proof, particularly his own admissions, seems to support the view of most people that the death penalty is his appropriate punishment.

Now, I’m not going to discuss the arguments that are currently raging over whether Mr. Ross is competent to give up his appeals, except to say that my former colleagues in the Public Defender’s Capital Defense Unit are people of the highest integrity, who are doing the often thankless work that needs to be done in order to make sure that our criminal justice system works correctly.
That being said, it is important to realize that whatever may be Mr. Ross’ fate, each capital case raises its own unique issues and will need to be examined by our courts with an open mind. In the future, our courts will inevitably examine important questions like why so many death row inmates come from Waterbury, while so few come from the rest of the state. They will look at issues of whether the juries heard all the evidence that they needed to know in order to make a sound decision. They will look at whether the prosecutors and defense attorneys did their jobs properly. They will inevitably be confronted with a case where we will have serious questions about whether we’ve convicted the right person.

As these questions arise, our courts will need to deal with them and that will continue to take enormous amounts of time and resources in order to make sure we’ve gotten it right. And as a civilized society, we will do this hard work because we know that death is different. You can’t take it back.


The Michael Ross case should not present the last word in our views about the death penalty in Connecticut. Every state and society that has attempted to use capital punishment fairly has run into the same problems. Outside of our nation, most have decided that their money and resources are better spent elsewhere and they have abandoned the practice altogether.
By the time this piece comes to press, Michael Ross may or may not still be alive. But the questions about the death penalty will remain, and we owe it to ourselves to base our views on as clear an understanding of the facts as possible.

Atty. James S. McKay is a former member of the Connecticut Public Defender’s Capital Defense Unit and is currently trainer for the Division of Public Defender Services. His views are his own and do not reflect the views of the Division of Public Defender Services.

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