CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

7 Challenge Death Penalty in Conn.

Sue to have sentences overturned.

Seven of the 11 men on death row in Connecticut have sued to have their sentences overturned after the state ended the death penalty this year. The inmates argue that race and geographic bias had an unfair influence in their sentencing. They are relying on a study conducted by a Stanford University professor that shows a disproportionate number of minority defendants were given the death penalty in murder cases involving white victims in Connecticut between 1973 and 2007. Of the remaining 11 inmates awaiting the death penalty in Connecticut’s penal system, four prisoners are white, six are black, and one is Hispanic.