Court Spares Connecticut Death Row

The Connecticut Supreme Court on Thursday spared the lives of everyone on death row in the state, ruling that the death penalty is unconstitutional. Lawmakers repealed the death penalty in 2012 but the law did not apply to prisoners already sentenced to die. The court ruled in favor of Eduardo Santiago, convicted of shooting a man in the head as he slept in 2000. Santiago’s lawyer argued it was unconstitutional to execute men after repealing the death penalty. In fact, public defender Mark Rademacher said no jurisdiction in U.S. history ever executed an offender after ending capital punishment.