Connecticut's top court rules death penalty unconstitutional

The ruling, handed down by Connecticut Supreme Court in the state capital, Hartford, on Thursday came as a result of an appeal filed by the legal defense team of Eduardo Santiago, one of 11 convicts who had been on death row there.

His lawyers successfully argued that the abolishment of the death penalty, which was passed in 2012 to be applied only to crimes committed from that moment on, should also apply to Santiago. The prisoner was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2005, after being convicted of murder in 2000.

"We are persuaded that, following its prospective abolition, this state's death penalty no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency and no longer serves any legitimate penological purpose," the judges wrote in Thursday's ruling.

"For these reasons, execution of those offenders who committed capital felonies prior to April 25, 2012, would violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment," they added.

Constitution 'violated'

"We hold that capital punishment, as currently applied, violates the constitution of Connecticut," they concluded.

Shortly after the ruling was handed down, the state's Democrat governor, Dannel Malloy, said none of the 11 inmates on death row would be executed.

"We will continue to look to the judicial system for additional guidance on this rule," he said. "It's clear that those currently serving on death row will serve the rest of their lives in a Department of Corrections facility with no possibility of ever obtaining freedom."

The state last carried out an execution in 2005, when serial killer Michael Ross was put to death.

pfd/rc (AP, AFP, Reuters)