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11 Inmates Off Death Row After Connecticut Bans Capital Punishment

The Supreme Court extended Connecticut's ban on the death penalty to 11 death row prisoners on Thursday.
Photo via Flickr

Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the death penalty is unconstitutional and banned the execution of all prisoners — including 11 who were already on death row after the court in 2012 repealed capital punishment for any new offenses.

The 4-3 decision, authored by Justice Richard Palmer, ruled that "this state's death penalty no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency and no longer serves any legitimate penological purpose," according to the Hartford Courant.

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The decision added that the execution of prisoners on death row before the April 2012 decision "would violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment."

Related: Texas' Oldest Death Row Prisoner Executed Despite Appeal

The ruling is based on an appeal from Eduardo Santiago, who was sentenced to death in 2005 for carrying out a murder for hire. He faced a second hearing, and his lawyers argued that sentencing him to death after the 2012 repeal on the death penalty was unconstitutional.

Chief Justice Chase Rogers, who authored one of the three dissenting opinions, wrote that the ruling was "fundamentally flawed" and "is based on a house of cards, falling under the slightest breath of scrutiny," reported the Hartford Courant.

In April 2012, Connecticut's Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy signed a law that banned the death penalty for any new capital offenses. But until today, the law did not apply to those already on death row. As of 2012, Connecticut's highest punishment for new offenders became life in prison without parole.

Related: Missouri Death Row Inmate Executed Despite Questions of Mental Competence and Racial Bias During Trial

Connecticut has only killed one death row prisoner since 1960. Nineteen other US states have abolished the death penalty.

Governor Malloy responded to Thursday's ruling in a statement urging for focus on the victims of the death row prisoners and their families.

"Today is a somber day where our focus should not be on the 11 men sitting on death row, but with their victims and those surviving families members," Malloy said. "My thoughts and prayers are with them during what must be a difficult day."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo via Flickr user Broadleak News