As Connecticut moves to abolish the death penalty, one survivor and victim voice is again being heard above all others’ combined: that of Dr. William Petit, whose family was the object of the horrific, brutal, deadly attacks in Cheshire.
Petit singlehandedly convinced legislators and the former governor to block repeal the past few years. This year it looks like repeal will prevail, although Petit and Republican legislators are doing their best to stop it. As Republican legislators and reporters focus on Petit, and pretty much only Petit, during last week’s state Senate votes to repeal the death penalty and this week’s upcoming state House vote, another survivor named Elizabeth Brancato, whose mother was raped and murdered, penned this piece on behalf of family members of murder victims who want to see repeal pass — in memory of their lost loved ones. The piece describes what it has felt like for those victims and survivors to try to make their voices heard at the Capitol:
Click here to continue reading the New Haven Independent’s report.
