The Death Penalty Becomes an Issue in CT-5

It’s unlikely that Congress will be debating the death penalty any time soon, but that hasn’t prevented the issue from coming up in the Republican race for the 5th District seat.

With a bill repealing the death penalty likely to be debated in the legislature this spring, some conservatives are openly wondering if Republican state Senator and 5th District candidate Andrew Roraback will support abolishing capital punishment.

Roraback, a longtime death penalty opponent, has broken with many in his party in the past to support repeal and says he intends to do the same this year should the question come to a vote.

“I have consistently throughout my 18 years of service supported the repeal of the death penalty,” Roraback said in a brief telephone interview Tuesday. “It’s a matter of conscience for me … it’s not an issue that I proselytize about but it is where my conscience lies.”

Several of Roraback’s Republican opponents have been vocal in their belief that the death penalty ought to be preserved. Lisa Wilson-Foley is opposed to any attempts to repeal or “water-down” the state’s death penalty, said her spokesman, Chris Healy.

In fact, one of the state’s most prominent defenders of capital punishment, Dr. William Petit, is hosting a campaign event for Wilson-Foley, along with state Rep. (and death penalty backer) Al Adinolfi at the Waverly Inn in Cheshire, Healy said. Petit is the sole survivor of a notorious home invasion in Cheshire in 2007. His wife, Jennifer, and two daughters, Hayley and Michaela, were murdered and the two men convicted of the killings have each been sentenced to death.

Mark Greenberg, who is also seeking the GOP nomination in the 5th, cited the Petit family murders as the reason why the death penalty is needed.

“I strongly oppose repeal of the death penalty,” Greenberg said in a statement. “I believe that certain crimes are so heinous that the death penalty is warranted, and the horrific crimes in Cheshire were prime examples of the kind of crimes where the death penalty should be imposed.”

Another Republican candidate in the 5th, Mike Clark of Farmington, also opposes repealing capital punishment.

“There are no doubt some crimes so heinous that the individuals who commit them deserve capital punishment,” Clark, a former FBI agent, said in an email. “In those cases, (such as with the violent murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters), I stand in favor of the death penalty and do not, as Senator Roraback did in 2009, support a repeal that would eliminate that option.”