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How to File Complaints Against Physicians in Connecticut

CONNECTICUT STATE LAW CONCERNING THE DEATH PENALTY

A PERSON IS GUILTY OF CAPITAL FELONY WHO IS CONVICTED OF:

(1) murder of a member of the Division of State Police within the Department of Public Safety while such victim was acting within the scope of such victim's duties;
(2) murder committed by a defendant who is hired to commit the murder;
(3) murder committed by one who has previously been convicted of intentional murder or of murder committed in the course of commission of a felony;
(4) murder committed by one who was, at the time of commission of the murder, under sentence of life imprisonment;
(5) murder by a kidnapper of a kidnapped person during the course of the kidnapping or before such person is able to return or be returned to safety;
(6) murder committed in the course of the commission of sexual assault in the first degree;
(7) murder of two or more persons at the same time or in the course of a single transaction; or
(8) murder of a person under sixteen years of age.

ONCE A PERSON IS CONVICTED OF CAPITAL FELONY, AGGREVATING FACTORS ARE WEIGHED AGAINST MITIGATING FACTORS TO DETERMINE WHO WILL BE SENTENCED TO DEATH.

AGGREVATING FACTORS

The aggravating factors to be considered shall be limited to the following:

(1) The defendant committed the offense during the commission or attempted commission of, or during the immediate flight from the commission or attempted commission of, a felony and the defendant had previously been convicted of the same felony; or
(2) the defendant committed the offense after having been convicted of two or more state offenses or two or more federal offenses or of one or more state offenses and one or more federal offenses for each of which a penalty of more than one year imprisonment may be imposed, which offenses were committed on different occasions and which involved the infliction of serious bodily injury upon another person; or
(3) the defendant committed the offense and in such commission knowingly created a grave risk of death to another person in addition to the victim of the offense; or
(4) the defendant committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner; or
(5) the defendant paid to have the offense commit; or
(6) the defendant was paid to commit the offense; or
(7) the defendant committed the offense with an assault weapon; or
(8) the defendant committed the offense to avoid arrest for a criminal act or prevent detection of a criminal act or to hamper or prevent the victim from carrying out any act within the scope of the victim’s official duties or to retaliate against the victim for the performance of the victim’s official duties.

MITIGATING FACTORS

The court shall not impose the sentence of death on the defendant if:

(1) the defendant was under the age of eighteen years, or
(2) the defendant was a person with mental retardation, or
(3) the defendant’s mental capacity was significantly impaired but not so impaired as to constitute a defense to prosecution, or
(4) the defendant was criminally liable, but the defendant’s participation in such offense was relatively minor, although not so minor as to constitute a defense to prosecution, or
(5) the defendant could not reasonably have foreseen that the defendant’s conduct would create a grave risk of causing, death to another person.

Download a PDF of this fact sheet here.

Please take a minute to contact your legislators now, so we never have another execution
in Connecticut!