Connecticut Justice News & In-Depth Reporting

Senate rejects Murphy background-check provision and ‘terror gap’ bill

by Ana Radelat June 20, 2016 @ 6:46 pmMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:51 pm

Updated at 9:28 p.m.
WASHINGTON — For the second time since the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the U.S. Senate has rejected an effort to expand FBI background checks of gun purchasers. Lawmakers also killed an effort to bar those on the terrorist watch list from purchasing weapons, as well as two competing GOP proposals.

Justice, Money

Towns want AG’s opinion on responsibility for unclaimed corpses

by Keith M. Phaneuf June 20, 2016 @ 12:26 pmMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:57 pm

Connecticut’s cities and towns are seeking an opinion from Attorney General George Jepsen on whether communities now must take responsibility for disposition of unclaimed human remains.

Justice, Politics

U.S. Supreme Court declines to consider Sandy Hook gun ban

by Mark Pazniokas June 20, 2016 @ 11:33 amMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:57 pm

The U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment Monday to consider a challenge by Connecticut gun owners to gun controls the state passed in response to the shooting deaths of 26 children and staff at Sandy Hook elementary school by a gunman armed with an AR-15, 30-round magazines and high-powered ammo.

Justice, Money

State troopers will guard courthouses in 4 cities starting Monday

by Keith M. Phaneuf June 17, 2016 @ 4:56 pmMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:57 pm

After hiring state police Friday to temporarily enhance security outside of a Superior Court in Bridgeport, the Judicial Branch will assign troopers to guard courthouses in four cities starting Monday, a branch spokeswoman said.

Justice, Politics

Appeal denied, Rowland faces his second trip to prison

by Mark Pazniokas June 17, 2016 @ 10:36 amMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:56 pm

A federal appeals court Friday upheld Gov. John G. Rowland’s conviction and 30-month prison sentence for his role in a scheme to solicit two congressional campaigns in 2010 and 2012 to secretly pay him as a political consultant in violation of U.S. campaign finance laws.

Justice, Politics

SEEC OKs record $325,000 settlement in Malloy campaign case

by Mark Pazniokas June 15, 2016 @ 11:17 amMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:56 pm

The Connecticut Democratic Party and the State Elections Enforcement Commission agreed Monday to settle a case that threatened to undermine campaign finance reforms inspired by the scandal that forced Gov. John G. Rowland from office in 2004. The party will pay a record $325,000 over 27 months to settle allegations of impropriety involving use of state contractor contributions in 2014 to support the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Justice, Money

Judicial Branch to close Windham courthouse, 3 juvenile courts

by Keith M. Phaneuf June 14, 2016 @ 12:00 pmMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:56 pm

The Judicial Branch announced Tuesday it would close the Windham courthouse, juvenile courts in Danbury, Stamford and Torrington, and two urban lock-up facilities as part of a larger reorganization to deal with a $77 million budget cut in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Justice, Politics

Obama: ‘We will not give in to fear or turn against each other’

by Mark Pazniokas June 12, 2016 @ 4:29 pmMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:55 pm

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ordered flags lowered to half-staff Sunday as Connecticut joined President Obama and the nation in mourning the murders of 50 people in an Orlando, Fla., nightclub, an act of terror and the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Some Democrats quickly called for Congress to strengthen measures aimed at preventing gun violence.

Justice

At CT’s juvenile jail, a spike in staff injuries

by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas June 9, 2016 @ 5:00 amMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:54 pm

Updated at 7:30 a.m.
The number of youth incarcerated at the state’s controversial jail for juvenile offenders may have reached a record low, but the number of staff being injured in assaults or while physically restraining residents has shot up.

Justice, Money, Politics

Judicial Branch to cut community programs

by Kyle Constable June 8, 2016 @ 5:26 pmAugust 1, 2022 @ 2:44 pm

Facing $77 million in cuts under the finalized budget, the state’s Judicial Branch has announced new actions to close the gap, including a plan to scale back community-based programs for juvenile and adult offenders.

Justice, Money, Politics

Malloy signs CT budget but trims town aid to offset prison costs

by Keith M. Phaneuf and Mark Pazniokas June 2, 2016 @ 6:37 pmAugust 1, 2022 @ 2:44 pm

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy showed legislators Thursday there was a fiscal price to be paid for rejecting his anti-recidivism proposals. The governor signed the legislature’s $19.76 billion budget for 2016-17 into law, but only after using the rarely employed line-item veto to cancel more than $22 million earmarked for municipalities, health clinics and the Connecticut Humanities Council.

Justice

House Democrats say Malloy’s bail reform bill is dead for 2016

by Mark Pazniokas June 2, 2016 @ 3:08 pmMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:53 pm

House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, declined Thursday to call Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s bail reform legislation for a vote, effectively killing of the measure for 2016. Sharkey told reporters after a House Democratic caucus that legislators support the governor’s goal of ensuring that no one is jailed only for an inability to afford bail, but they had too many questions about his approach.

Justice

Criminal-justice reformer questions Malloy’s approach to bail

by Mark Pazniokas June 2, 2016 @ 5:05 amMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:53 pm

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal to begin an overhaul of Connecticut’s bail system with the limited step of eliminating bail for non-violent misdemeanors is viewed by the head of a national criminal-justice reform group as a political compromise of questionable value.

Justice, Politics

Malloy bows to legislature, narrows ‘Second Chance’ to bail

by Mark Pazniokas May 31, 2016 @ 5:51 pmMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:52 pm

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy publicly acknowledged Tuesday what has been increasingly clear: The only portion of his “Second Chance” criminal justice reforms with a chance of passage in special session this week is a provision eliminating bail for minor crimes. Legislators effectively set a deadline of Thursday for agreeing on the parameters of a bail measure.

Justice

High Court reaffirms the end of Connecticut’s death penalty

by Mark Pazniokas May 26, 2016 @ 11:36 amMarch 4, 2022 @ 10:51 pm

The state Supreme Court declined Thursday to reverse its 2015 decision eliminating the last vestige of capital punishment in Connecticut – the sentences facing 11 men on death row when the legislature repealed the death penalty for future crimes. The 5-2 ruling means an end to the death penalty, a punishment the General Assembly repealed for future crimes in 2012.

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