HARTFORD, Conn. (AP/WTNH) — Connecticut's highest court has overturned the death penalty in the state, saying it's unconstitutional.
Thursday's ruling could mean that the 11 men on the state's death row would no longer be subject to execution orders. Those inmates include Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, who were sentenced to die for killing a mother and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire.
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The state had passed a law in 2012 to repeal the death penalty only for future crimes.
The ruling comes in an appeal from Eduardo Santiago, whose attorneys had argued that any execution carried out after repeal would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Santiago faced the possibility of lethal injection for a 2000 murder-for-hire killing in West Hartford.
To read the full court decision, click here.